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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/who-killed-sandra-bland-the-whole-goddamn-system-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

Who Killed Sandra Bland?^*
This GODDAM System!
We Need REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Who killed Sandra Bland? She was a 28-year-old Black woman, with her whole life ahead of her, full of vibrant spirit and defiant attitude. A woman pulled over by a cop for Driving While Black. Insulted and threatened. Dragged out of her car and beaten. And three days later, dead in a prison cell.

Was it the pig who zoomed up behind her, forcing her to make a lane change and then pulled her over for making a lane change? Who insulted, humiliated, and terrorized Sandra Bland with a Taser? Who told Sandra, “I will light you up,” dragged her out of her vehicle, handcuffed her, ridiculed her when she cried out in pain, and beat her out of camera range? The cop was enforcing the rules of a system that places no value on the lives of Black people, and Black women in particular; a system that reacts with vengeance and violence against people like Sandra who refuse to “know their place” as this system defines it.

Was it the local prosecutor, who claimed he was treating Sandra Bland’s death in custody as a murder investigation, but who has brought no charges against the brutalizing pig? The prosecutor who didn't even make a pretense of questioning the prison authorities and guards who should be considered murder suspects, and who allowed the actual crime scene—including the prison cell where Sandra Bland was found dead—to be tampered with, including letting reporters trample through the cell?

Was it the ruling class media that has sold a whole stream of lies, cover-ups, and doctored evidence—like an obviously doctored video from the police that has a tow truck driver exiting his truck once, and then exiting again 15 seconds later without having ever returned to the truck—all while the audio of the cop dictating his story into the camera continues uninterrupted? And a media that is forever trying to change the subject to interrogate or slander the victim? This is a media that is about anything but getting to the truth of what happened—unable to see obvious murder suspects right in front of their eyes in the police and jail authorities.

Was it the Department of IN-Justice, which under Barack Obama and Eric Holder has literally supported every single act of police violence that has come before the U.S. Supreme Court during the Holder regime? Seriously, every case—look it up. (See “The REAL Record of the Holder Department of IN-Justice: Supporting Police Violence in EVERY CASE Before the Supreme Court.”) Under Obama, the system has amped up a situation where any Black person in America must fear for his or her life every time they drive down a highway and see the flashing lights of a police vehicle.

Was it the economic system driven by mad-dog competition for profit, that after exploiting African-Americans in the worst, most low-paying, most dangerous jobs in cities like Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Baltimore, and across the country for decades, now has no use for them? That moved jobs to places where it can exploit people even more viciously, leaving no future for millions and millions of Black people? A system whose “answer” to all this is slow genocide and mass incarceration. Whose prisons are torture chambers, with a serious element of being death camps—one of which Sandra Bland ended up in?

Was it the toxic smog of white supremacy that has lain thick over this land since the first slaves were dragged here from Africa to be worked like animals to build up so much of the massive wealth upon which this system rests? The dehumanizing racist ideology that served, and serves that? The mass culture of pig shows on TV and in movies that demonize Black people as “thugs” who should all be in jail or dead? An atmosphere where all those involved in the murder of Sandra Bland didn’t even feel a need to look over their shoulders because they knew that over and over and over this system has said Black people have no rights a white man (or enforcers of white supremacy of any color) has to respect?

It is all of that and more!

The Whole GODDAM System!

That’s it.

Now think about what would be required to uproot ALL of that?

We Need REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS

 

* Inspired in part by Bob Dylan’s “Who Killed Davey Moore?” and Nina Simone’s “Mississippi GODDAM” [back]

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/sandra-bland-should-not-have-died-stop-police-terror-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

Sandra Bland Should Not Have Died!!
Stop Police Terror and Murder!
Demonstrate in New York:
Which Side Are You On?

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

“Get out of the car! I will light you up! Get out! Now!” (Texas Department of Public Safety pig threatening Sandra Bland with a Taser)

“Hey, this is me ... I just was able to see the judge. I don’t really know. They got me set at a $5,000 bond. I’m still just at a loss for words, honestly, about this whole process―how did switching lanes with no signal turn into all of this, I don’t even know. But I’m still here, so I guess call me back when you can.” (Sandra Bland, calling a friend from the Waller County, Texas, jail)

A Modern-Day Lynching

From start to finish, the events that ended with the death of 28-year-old Sandra Bland in a Texas jail cell were a modern-day lynching. Sandra Bland’s murder is an infuriating concentration of the brutal, genocidal oppression faced by masses of Black people, every day that this foul system continues to exist.

When Sandra Bland arrived in Prairie View, Texas, she was a young woman happy to have landed a good job, happy to be back at the college she had graduated from, happy to be back with some old friends. But soon she was pulled over by a Texas pig. She was brutalized and locked up. Three days later she was dead. Sharon Cooper, one of Sandra’s sisters, told reporters that Sandra’s supposed suicide “...is unfathomable to me. People who knew her, truly knew the depth of her ... that’s unfathomable right now.”

Sandra Bland was pulled over on a bullshit, made-up charge. The cop who arrested her, Brian Encinia, did a sharp U-turn to come after her. What did he see that made him act that way? He saw a young Black woman with out-of-state plates driving, perfectly legally, in broad daylight. That was enough for him to turn around and pursue her.

Encinia chased Sandra Bland down, and then pulled her over when she thought he was trying to get by her. He reached into her car, grabbed her, yanked on her until he pulled her out of the car, drew a weapon on her, and handcuffed her—because she said she didn’t have to put out a cigarette when he ordered her to. Then he threw her to the ground—out of view of his dashboard camera—put his knee on her back, twisted her arm, and mocked her when she told him she had epilepsy.

What got this pig going? What gave him the confidence that he could get away with shit like this? The same thing that gives cops all over this country the confidence that they can brutalize and murder Black and Latino people with impunity.

The Rot and Horror of a System

Enforcers of the system of oppression we live in arrested, mauled, and killed Sandra Bland. But the system’s rot and horror are not confined to rural Texas counties run by racist sheriffs and prosecutors. The horror that came to light with the murder of Sandra Bland is built into a larger horror—a system that thrives upon brutal beatings and murder by police of Black and Latino people, among its many intolerable crimes.

This is a system that has utter contempt for the lives of Black and Latino people. In the days since Sandra Bland was murdered in Waller County, Richard Linyard was chased and killed by police in Oakland, California; Samuel Dubose was shot in the head and killed by police in Cincinnati; and in the Houston area alone, on the same day the Waller County prosecutor announced the results of their autopsy of Sandra Bland, two more men—both of them unnamed in media accounts—were killed by one police force or another.

Time after time, murder after murder, these cops are let go. Rarely are they even indicted or charged with anything, much less convicted. All they need to do is claim they “felt threatened” by the person they murdered. And this is backed up, time and again, by courts, laws, and the U.S. Constitution. The murderers are determined by judges, district attorneys, and police officials to have “acted reasonably,” and “within the law,” when they choke someone to death, or shoot someone in the head. The media portrays the people they killed as violent drug users. Political leaders of both bourgeois parties give the police their full and unquestioning support.

In short, pigs like Encinia know, on some level, that they have a whole system (not just their fellow cops) backing them up, that they are “doing their job”—doing what’s expected and demanded of them—when they brutalize and kill Black and Latino people.

Black women who, like Sandra Bland, do not “know their place,” are especially out of bounds of the rules of this system and its enforcers. They face even more savagery and contempt. Encinia became infuriated when Sandra Bland would not kiss his ass. She was the kind of woman who didn’t take his shit, the kind of Black woman racists in the South and elsewhere used to call “uppity.” She did not ask “how high” when Encinia told her to jump. She did not “yes sir, no sir” him. She told him she “couldn’t wait” until she saw him in court.

All of the above contributed to how “switching lanes with no turn signal” turned into “all this”—to Sandra being arrested, brutalized, jailed, and murdered.

And all of the above adds up to a system that cops like Brian Encinia—and Glenn Smith, the thoroughly and openly racist sheriff of Waller County—know will back them up when they beat and arrest people. Just like it has backed up the cop who shot down Michael Brown when he had his hands in the air; like it backed up the cop who choked Eric Garner to death on a New York street in broad daylight; like it backed up the cop who jumped on a car hood and fired over a dozen bullets into the bodies of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in Cleveland.

The non-prosecutions of these and other murdering police do a lot more than exonerate the particular cops—unacceptable and outrageous as that is. They encourage and promote the same behavior among all cops. The only thing these killer cops have to do to get away with murder is say the magic words—they “felt threatened,” or they were “assaulted.”

Everyone involved in the death of Sandra Bland—from the cops, to the DA, to the coroners, to the jailers, to the sheriff, is part of a chain of actions, complicity, and cover-up; every one of them is responsible for her MURDER. Every single one of them had a bloody hand in killing her, no matter how much they try to pass off responsibility, point in the direction of others, and most of all, make Sandra Bland somehow responsible for her own death.

But even more, the entire GODDAMN SYSTEM is behind the murder of Sandra Bland in a lonely Texas jail cell. We live in a system that cannot do without the oppression of Black people, and it enforces this oppression through brutality, repression, mass incarceration, and outright murder.

There is a plague, an epidemic, of police terror in this country. It is especially virulent in Black and Latino communities. Hyped-up fascist police like Brian Encinia are just “doing their job” when they inflict terror upon people and entire communities whom this system fears because it has no future, no use for them.

Shameless Lies and Cover-up

The “official story” coming from all those involved in the murder of Sandra Bland has been full of lies, deceit, misdirection, and manipulation. It is a shameless and shameful cover-up that doesn’t even pretend to be a serious attempt at finding out what actually happened in that miserable county jail.

Elton Mathis, the DA of Waller County, said he was treating the cell where Sandra Bland was held as a “crime scene.” Bullshit! Countless people have trampled all over this cell! Pictures taken of it at different times by different journalists show different scenes. Channel 2 in Houston reported that they had “exclusive video from inside the Waller County jail cell where Sandra Bland was found dead.” A large trash can, with a plastic bag in it, is visible in this video—so did jail staff replace the bag that Sandra supposedly hanged herself with? Isn’t that “tampering with evidence”?

No one has come up with any reports of interrogation of the sheriff and jail staff about what happened to Sandra Bland when she was in their clutches from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. No video has been released of what happened to Sandra once she was in jail. Why have none of these cops, prosecutors, and sheriffs been questioned, brought before investigators and made to explain what went on with Sandra Bland from the time she was arrested on Friday afternoon until she died Monday morning? Why haven’t they been forced to account for every minute of the time she was in their deadly clutches?

The police claim that Sandra was suicidal—yet, even by their own admission they did nothing for days to see that she was provided with any medical attention. They didn’t look after her well-being even according to their own county jail standards. And now we’re supposed to believe that Sandra Bland—someone who had told these very cops “see you in court,” someone who in no way indicated to anyone she loved and cared for that she was reaching her limits—suddenly killed herself?

In his official affidavit of the arrest, Encinia portrayed himself as the victim of an assault by Sandra Bland, and in this he was fully backed by Elton Mathis, the Waller County DA. Encinia made the utterly false claim that Sandra Bland “began swinging her elbows at me and then kicked my right leg in the shin. I had a pain in my right leg and suffered small cuts on my right hand.... Force was used to subdue Bland to the ground to which Bland continued to fight back.”

Encinia’s lies never would have come to light if Sandra Bland’s friends and family hadn’t forced the issue of her death into the light of day, and if a bystander hadn’t recorded some of Encinia’s assault of Sandra. But Waller County authorities fully backed Encinia, even while they found that he had violated the Texas Department of Safety’s “courtesy policy” and put him on “desk duty.” And the day after Sandra’s body was found, Mathis announced, “Do I believe this is a murder? No. I believe it’s a suicide.”

A lawyer for Sandra Bland’s family recounted some of the many unanswered questions: “Why Sandy had to be asked to put her cigarette out. Why Sandy had to be asked to get out of her car. Why Sandy had to be subject to the officer pointing a taser at her. Why Sandy had to be thrown to the ground and hurt.”

Sandra Bland was a woman found hanging in a jail cell of a county notorious for its racism, even by Texas standards. Its county sheriff, who is in charge of the jail, has a long-established record as a vicious hater and brutalizer of Black people. At least one other person had supposedly hanged himself in this jail, only four years ago. Waller County had one of the highest numbers of lynchings of any county in the U.S. during the years of Jim Crow and open enforcement of “second-class status” for Black people.

This awful and unbearable history is continuing with the murder of Sandra Bland. The stories the Waller County authorities are peddling to explain Sandra Bland’s death are full of holes and cover-ups. So why would anyone take their word when they say Sandra Bland killed herself while in their custody?

The Whole System Is Guilty

Sharon Cooper said about her sister Sandra’s murder, “I’m infuriated and everybody else should be infuriated as well.” This is true about the murder of Sandra Bland, and it is true about the epidemic of police terror, murder by police, and mass incarceration.

Michael Brown. Eric Garner. Tamir Rice. Rekia Boyd. Freddie Gray. Walter Scott. Now Sandra Bland. And the murderous toll keeps climbing. Any system that does this to people routinely; any system whose “law officers” gun people down, choke them to death, beat and lock them away for nothing; any system whose legal apparatus time after time lets these murderers walk free to do it again—such a system has lost its legitimacy and has no right to exist.

Millions of people are infuriated at the murder of Sandra Bland. Many people reject the claims of the authorities about the events leading up to her death, and many more are skeptical of the “official story.” Millions of people are beginning to see the connection between the murder of Sandra Bland and the endless drumbeat of murder by police taking place all across this country.

The murder of Sandra Bland is utterly outrageous and unacceptable. The truth of what happened to her during those three nightmare days of her jailing must come out. The people responsible for her death must be indicted and prosecuted.

What is most needed right now is for many, many people to get into this fight. To take sides, and wage ferocious struggle against the entire barrage of attacks by police and racist vigilantes upon Black people.

In a recent statement, Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Communist Party posed the challenge we confront: “All this faces us all with an urgent question: Which side are you on? Are you on the side of the savage oppression and brutality this system enforces on Black people? Or do you stand against these kinds of horrors?”

Use your righteous anger and determination to fight for justice for Sandra Bland, and to stop all the outrages of police brutality and murder perpetrated by this system. Be part of preparing for and participating in powerful outpourings during #RiseUpOctober to STOP Police Terror—Which Side Are You On?, especially October 24 in New York City.

JUSTICE FOR SANDRA BLAND!

INDICT, CONVICT, JAIL ALL THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR HER MURDER!

THE WHOLE DAMN SYSTEM IS GUILTY AS HELL!

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/the-funeral-of-sandra-bland-a-celebration-of-a-young-black-woman-who-cared-deeply-about-justice-for-black-people-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

The Funeral of Sandra Bland: A Celebration of a Young Black Woman Who Cared Deeply About Justice for Black People

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

More than 1,000 people attended the wake and funeral of Sandra Bland at the DuPage A.M.E. Church in Lisle, Illinois. More than 150 family members, 50 of her sorority sisters from across the country, and hundreds of church members gathered inside at 9 a.m. Hundreds more, most of whom did not know Sandra, lined up in the hot sun. Many said they were so moved by her story that they felt they had to be there to stand with the family and stand up for justice for her. Most of the people attending, about 95 percent, were Black. There were couples, parents who brought their children, groups of young Black women in their 20s who felt they had to show their support, groups of young men wearing #SandySpeaks T-shirts. As they waited, people talked about all the lies and innuendos being spread by Texas officials and the media, and how they could not accept this. Eventually everyone was able to witness the funeral in overflow rooms.

A beautiful photo of Sandra lit up the sanctuary with her radiant smile, in heart-wrenching contrast to the lifeless body in the casket. In the printed program celebrating her 28 years of life, Sandra's vitality, strength, and spunkiness jump off the page in dozens of photos with her family and friends, her years as an athlete, as a trombonist in the Marching Storm at Prairie View A&M University, her sorority, graduation, and church activities. It hit like a blow to the heart: she was so full of life and then... suddenly cut down because of a traffic stop that never should have happened.

This funeral was a celebration of who Sandra really was and how beloved she was. This was in defiant opposition to the questioning and demonization of her character in the media and social media. And it was a demand for justice. Reverend Dr. James Miller said, “Tell this nation we’re not funeralizing a martyr or a victim, we’re celebrating a hero... She was a strong woman, a strong Black woman, and the authorities in Waller County, Texas will discover that you can disrespect a strong Black woman, but you are going to pay for that. The end is just the beginning.” He called for an investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

What came through over and over was that Sandra cared deeply about justice for Black people and acted on this with a “trailblazing spirit of activism” and a “fiery spirit that needs no apology,” in the words of a statement from her sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho. “Her dreams were on the cusp of being actualized—to be a hope for a marginalized section of society. We Will Say Her Name! Her Life Mattered!” Her death is a great loss to society.

Reverend Theresa Dear said before the service that Sandra should be celebrated for standing up for herself: “She asked the question ‘why should I put out the cigarette?’ She asked 12 times, ‘Why am I being arrested?’ And so we celebrate that part of her personality.”

Sandra’s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, speaking out through her immense pain, upheld Sandra’s purpose in life. Sandra had told her a week before her death, “I’m ready to go back to Texas to stop all the injustice against Black people.” And Sandra’s mother demanded that no stone go unturned in getting to the truth of what happened to her. “I’m going to find out what happened to my baby. My baby has spoken. She’s still speaking, and no, she didn’t kill herself.”

Reverend Dr. Byron T. Brazier said that Sandra urgently requested that he meet with her a month ago about the police murder of Mike Brown and many more across the country. “She pulled out a binder three inches thick with all the research she had done, she was committed to the cause, #SandySpeaks, and she has spoken. We have a responsibility to not let her voice die. We have a responsibility to speak for her.”

Punctuating all this were the deep agonizing and outrage about why Black people are still being treated this way after centuries of oppression. Rev. Miller spoke about how this was “not a racial issue, it’s a spiritual issue between some folks and God. All men are created equal by God, but half of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were slave owners, and the rest went along with it so they could create this nation... and when the Southern states seceded they said straight out that ‘God created white men over all the other races.’”

It was significant that Dick Durbin, a U.S. senator from Illinois, and Bill Foster, U.S. congressman from the area, both felt compelled to come to the funeral to speak directly to the widespread outrage around Sandra’s needless death, while trying to keep people looking for answers from the same system that is causing these horrors. Durbin and Foster announced, to a standing ovation, that they have formally requested that the DOJ do a “full and fair investigation” into the whole case. But the fact is the DOJ overwhelmingly clears killer cops, as they recently did in the Mike Brown case, and has done nothing to stop the escalating epidemic of police murder.

The response of Durbin and Foster reflects an approach among sections of the ruling class for a problem for which they have no fundamental solutions. The legitimacy of the role of the police—as a critical armed force for this system, especially in maintaining the oppression of Black and Latino people—is being questioned and breaking down among broader and broader sections of the people, including some in the suburban middle class. The growing questioning that Sandra's death has caused—about what is wrong with this country, and why do the police keep killing people, and demands for answers—poses the possibility of a scenario of growing disaffection that could be a nightmare for the ruling class, and open up revolutionary potential.

Both of these things can be seen in the words of a 34-year-old Black woman artist: “Going to the funeral made me see that I am Sandra Bland, that’s me. It unleashed my anger, it makes me want to do more to stop this. They say she was uppity; Black people who speak out are uppity. Did she, do I, deserve to die because of being outspoken and speaking out on social media? A cop should not dictate whether or not to put out a cigarette or what your attitude should be. I have had the police make me get out of the car and have them treat me like a piece of meat. My son is nine years old and I’ve had to tell him the police can kill Black people and get away with it. Why is this allowed to continue?”

The blood is on the hands of the rulers of this system and their murdering cops. The killing of Sandra Bland is yet another reason that the resistance to police murder and brutality must continue and become even broader and more determined—and that this fight must be taken to a whole other level with the Rise Up October protests on October 22-24 to STOP these outrages and SHUT THIS DOWN.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/august-9-mark-the-anniversary-of-the-police-murder-of-mike-brown-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

August 8-10: Mark the Anniversary of the Police Murder of Mike Brown and the Heroic Uprising that Followed:
It Was – AND IS – Right to Rebel!!

July 23, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On August 9, it will be one year since a Ferguson, Missouri, cop, Darren Wilson executed Michael Brown for walking in the middle of the day on a sleepy street. Mike Brown was unarmed, running away, and had his hands up when he was shot multiple times and then his body was left lying dead in the street for four-and-a-half hours.

This brutal murder was met with outrage. For days and then weeks people took to the streets with defiance, rage, and righteous rebellion. People insisted on their rights and defended those rights in the street. Without the rebellion, this terrible state-done murder would just be another rerun of the same old, all-too-familiar story, the same murderous stuff that happens to Black and Latino youths over and over again. Very few people would have shared the grief of his parents for the terrible loss of this young man, at the very beginning of his life. The defiance and righteous rebellion challenged people all over the country to get off the sidelines and stand with those refusing to take this any longer. 

Take even four-and-a-half minutes to think about what those days looked like. Go back and look at the photographs of the hundreds and then thousands who took a stand. Hundreds of students dramatizing “hands up, don't shoot!” on college campuses; demonstrations and die-ins all across the country; major roads, freeways, bridges, and public transportation shut down; people from all over the world traveling to Ferguson; a requiem, “Which Side Are You On,” stopping the performance of the St. Louis symphony. The St. Louis Rams football team under stadium lights with their hands up.  Beautiful works of art – paintings, songs and poetry expressed the pain and rage. Even the Christmas holiday season was heralded by waves of protests often overshadowing shopping at shrines to capitalism like the Mall of America and Fifth Ave. as the police who killed Eric Garner on July 17 of the same year also went unindicted by a New York City grand jury.

Without the defiance in Ferguson, very few would know the name Mike Brown. It is also very likely that very few people would know the names of many others – all those who when taken together repeatedly paint a picture that shows that this wasn't an isolated incident in Missouri. In reality, every town had a Mike Brown and often more than one: Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Rekia Boyd, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Tony Robinson, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, and many, many more. The names and faces of those killed, the sorrow of friends and families, was staggering when the enormity of the crimes being committed by the armed enforcers of the state was exposed to the light of day.

From the very beginning, the powers-that-be – from the local authorities on up to Obama – were terrified of the defiance in Ferguson. The rulers of this white supremacist-capitalist system attacked this struggle physically and through the media. These same rulers – these people who rain violence down all over the world and in the ghettos and barrios to defend their system – these very same people told the people to be non-violent and to walk around in circles in the face of armed assault, and then attacked anyone who upheld the right of people to NOT lay down in the face of this. But the people stood up – strong and fierce and in doing so brought many people into the struggle on their side. The heart and courage to stand up in the face of tear gas, tanks, rubber bullets, and live machine guns, curfews... in the face of the National Guard... in the face of 100s of arrests... in the face of political firemen urging the people to be calm while the police murder people over and over – this was new and inspiring.  

The authorities stalled for months, taking the case of Darren Wilson's murder of Mike Brown to a grand jury, hoping people's determination and attention would wane. Instead, the protesters persevered, often in creative ways to take the struggle to sporting events, insisting all of society confront this injustice. People from all over the country joined with them. After all this, when it was so clear that Mike Brown had been murdered by a cop in broad daylight in front of many witnesses – when the grand jury refused to issue an indictment of Darren Wilson for ANY crime – it was too much and Ferguson erupted for a second time, and this time a much, much bigger section of society went into upheaval.

This was followed by another major assault on the whole struggle in May of this year, this time by the Department of Justice (DOJ) report on Ferguson. Rather than have a trial to determine what happened, the Department of IN-Justice backed the local district attorney and declared that those who said Mike Brown did NOT have his hands up were telling the truth, and that the other witnesses who said that Mike DID have his hands up were lying (this included  not only people from Ferguson, but also two white construction workers who were captured on video witnessing the murder AS IT TOOK PLACE). 

As many eyewitnesses did in fact make clear, Mike Brown DID HAVE HIS HANDS UP, AND "HANDS UP! DON'T SHOOT!" IS INDEED ONE VERY FITTING AND POWERFUL SLOGAN AND SYMBOL.

A really chilling (and worse) verdict issued by the DOJ report is concentrated in this one sentence: "There is no evidence upon which prosecutors can rely to disprove Wilson's stated subjective belief that he feared for his safety."

Not only was this a callous upholding of Mike Brown's murder, this was the Black U.S. attorney general telling police EVERYWHERE how they could get away with cold-blooded murder, especially of Black people, even if you're found to be in a racist police department. Just say you subjectively believe that you feared for your safety. Your belief could be completely irrational, and you can still kill with impunity. You can be a racist mf'er who thinks that all Black people by definition are a threat to your safety, and you can kill with impunity, and the Justice Department will clear you.

Everything we have said above – the real role of the struggle and why it brought out so many people and set off a whole new stage of things, how the IN-Justice Department report was a lie, and so on – all this is true. And those who are trying to erase this or turn it into something different are full of it.

It is important that on the weekend of August 8-10, the anniversary of the murder of Michael Brown, people stand firmly and publicly manifest that the verdict rendered by the people, that those who took to the streets of Ferguson in righteous and defiant rebellion and protest night after night, was true – Mike Brown did not have to die. It was right for the people of Ferguson to rebel and people everywhere are proud of them for rising up. On August 8-10, if you can come to Ferguson and join the events of the anniversary of Mike Brown’s murder, we urge you to do so. But wherever you are, join with others to say we stand with the defiant ones in Ferguson – they were right. The DOJ was wrong – Mike Brown should not have been murdered by the police. HANDS UP! DON'T SHOOT! Fuck the DOJ!

The struggle in Ferguson opened a crack in the coffin where America has buried alive whole sections of Black and Latino youths and the struggle over the last year has widened the crack further. WE WILL NOT GO BACK. All the forms of attack deployed against this struggle as it mushroomed from Ferguson to Baltimore – all the forms of attack from tanks and bullets, slanders and lies to trying to discredit it, massive arrests and dragnets, crumbs and sugar-coated bullets to try and derail and channel/force/co-opt the struggle back into safe outlets that don't continue the fight to stop the police murders and terror – all this must be opposed, and we have to come back even stronger. This is what we intend to do October 22-24 in Rise Up October. We cannot and will not allow this to be “sealed” back up or the oxygen will go out of our collective lungs. No, we will reach out even wider and bring many, many more into the streets and change the face of this whole country.

How many more lives will be ground up? The murdering police are still in the streets and this must be stopped now. There is no middle ground in this struggle. At Ferguson 2015, this stand must be very clear and infuse everything:

MICHAEL BROWN WAS MURDERED – NEVER FORGIVE! NEVER FORGET!
HANDS UP! DON’T SHOOT!

And this in turn must be part of compelling ALL of society to rise to this challenge:

STOP POLICE TERROR: WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/six-reasons-stop-patriarchy-is-going-to-mississippi-for-abortion-rights-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

 

Six Reasons Stop Patriarchy Is Going to Mississippi for Abortion Rights

 

by Sunsara Taylor | July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Abortion rights are absolutely essential if women are to be free. The fight over abortion has NEVER been about “babies,” it has ALWAYS been about control over women. Fetuses are NOT babies. Abortion is NOT murder. Women are NOT incubators. Forcing women to have children against their will is a form of enslavement.

However, there is a vicious and escalating assault on abortion all across this country. In Indiana, a woman is sitting in prison for 20 years for allegedly inducing her own abortion. Six states have only one abortion clinic left. Over 330 laws restricting abortion have been introduced—and 50 laws have been passed nationwide already this year. Just over two years ago, Texas had more than 40 abortion clinics, now it has less than 20, and laws are now on the books that could close all but eight of them. Religious anti-abortion “Pregnancy Crisis Centers” outnumber abortion clinics in this country 3 to 1. In every part of the country women and staff who enter abortion clinics are shamed, harassed, and threatened.

Stop Patriarchy is mobilizing a national counter-offensive against this entire vicious war on women and is calling on people from around the country to join us in Mississippi from July 31 to August 9 to stand up for Abortion On Demand and Without Apology!

Why Mississippi? Because the situation around abortion rights in Mississippi is emblematic—and in many ways, a concentration—of the entire national emergency facing abortion rights.

Here are the top six reasons:

1. Mississippi has only one abortion clinic left!

Stop and think about that. One of the most fundamental rights that women need in order to decide the course of their lives is literally out of reach of huge numbers of women in Mississippi already.

2. Mississippi is in the heart of the Bible Belt.

It is in a place where religious fundamentalism—with its traditionalist teachings about “women’s place” and its suppression of basic science (around reproduction as well as basics like evolution)—is even stronger than in much of the rest of the country. For this reason, women are burdened by even greater isolation and shame for exercising reproductive control over their lives through abortion and birth control. This shame and stigma and enforced ignorance must be shattered!

3. Mississippi is in the heart of the Lynching Belt.

Mississippi was at the heart of the enslavement of Black people for centuries in this country, followed by a century of neo-slavery and lynch-mob terror. Then, it saw some of the most vicious white supremacist backlash against the Civil Rights movement, as immortalized in Nina Simone’s scathing song, “Mississippi, Goddam.” Today, tremendous numbers of Black people in Mississippi remain trapped in poverty, caught up unfairly in the criminal in-justice system, and are locked out of decent healthcare—including reproductive healthcare. The women who are most disproportionately affected by the lack of abortion access in Mississippi are Black women who have suffered multiple forms of oppression for centuries. This is unacceptable and it is everyone’s responsibility to stand up and fight against this!

4. Mississippi has already passed a fascist law that effectively means that no other abortion clinic will ever be allowed to open in Mississippi.

In 2012, a law was enacted that requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. This is completely medically unnecessary and was designed to shut down the last clinic. Not only is abortion incredibly safe (ten times safer than childbirth), in the extremely rare cases where hospitalization is needed, hospitals are already required to admit the woman whether or not her doctor has admitting privileges. As expected by those who passed the law, no hospital would grant admitting privileges to abortion doctors.

In July of 2014, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law was unconstitutional as applied to the one clinic left in the state. This is what has allowed that last clinic to stay open. However, this court also ruled that this law is constitutional for all future abortion clinics in Mississippi. Given that no hospitals will grant these admitting privileges, this effectively means that no one will never be able to open a new abortion clinic in Mississippi even if they had enough courage and resources to do so.

5. What happens in Mississippi will affect what happens to abortion rights nationwide.

The state of Mississippi is still trying to close this last clinic. It has asked the Supreme Court to overrule the Fifth Circuit Court and instead decide to close the last abortion clinic in the state. Disturbingly, during its last session, rather than dismissing this out of hand, the Supreme Court kept this option open.

In other words, the future of the last abortion clinic in Mississippi is still “in play.” Even more ominously, if the Supreme Court does decide to close this clinic down, this could set a whole new legal standard that makes it possible for anti-abortion fascists to restrict abortion even more drastically all across the country!

In contrast, building massive resistance to this attack and taking back the moral high-ground from those who want to enslave women can be part of setting a new tone of defiance for people around the country.

6. The last clinic in Mississippi is filled with courageous fighters and when people fight back like this, they should NOT be left on their own!

Abortion providers everywhere are heroes. They put their lives on the line to give women the opportunity to decide their own reproduction and the course of their own lives.

At the same time, there is something truly special about the people at the Jackson Women’s Health Organization (JWHO). The owner of the clinic, Diane Derzis, re-opened and came back even stronger after another clinic she owned in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed and members of her staff were killed and maimed. When the last clinic in Mississippi, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, faced escalating harassment from fascist forces nationwide, she painted the entire structure bright, vagina-pink as an act of in-your-face defiance. JWHO’s most well-known doctor, Dr. Willie Parker, relocated his entire practice to the Deep South to focus on serving women—especially Black women—who need abortions, when most other doctors are too scared to do this work. He has been incredibly outspoken, coming to the aid of other abortion providers under attack and modeling a morality that puts the needs of women everywhere above his personal safety and comfort. And the staff and escorts at JWHO have an extraordinary fighting spirit—not only showing up every day to shield women from Christian fascist haters and threats, but traveling to other states to stand with other clinics under attack.

When people display this kind of principle and courage, especially when they do it right on the very front lines and at a time when too many others are instead choosing to “lay low,” it is imperative that others stand with them!

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/letter-from-a-reader-on-the-new-synthesis-of-communism-by-bob-avakian-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

“THE NEW SYNTHESIS OF COMMUNISM: FUNDAMENTAL ORIENTATION, METHOD AND APPROACH, AND CORE ELEMENTS,” by Bob Avakian—A Unique and Historic Document

Letter from a Reader

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

My immediate response upon reading this document was to be tremendously impressed by the sweep and scope of the new synthesis of communism in all its many dimensions, and to think that we really need to get this document out far and wide (and also use it extensively in our boxing–our ideological struggle—with individuals and with other trends). Although others have written articles or given speeches aimed at summarizing the new synthesis of communism, this document is unique because this is Bob Avakian (BA) himself outlining in a very concentrated way what he considers the core elements of this new synthesis of communism, those areas where he has made the most significant and most path-breaking advances in our science. 

When you understand the emphasis that BA has put on developing a more thoroughly scientific method and approach and then can see the application of this method and approach reflected in significant theoretical breakthroughs in relation to so many elements (and these are only the core elements and not a comprehensive list of all the elements where he has charted new theoretical territory!), you can’t help but recognize and appreciate the extent to which BA has revolutionized communism by putting it on a more scientific foundation. As a result of this theoretical work that he has done over decades, BA is indeed “ushering in a whole new phase of the communist revolution and a whole new conception of the kind of society and world we need to be building for the benefit of humanity” (to quote from our website).  

This document drives home the tremendous potential that the new synthesis of communism holds to emancipate humanity, and I couldn’t help but think what a crime it is that this new synthesis of communism isn’t more widely known and embraced here and throughout the world. I think that this document could have a powerful positive impact in turning that situation around and opening people’s eyes to why we say that BA is a great communist leader on the level of Marx, Lenin, and Mao. In regards to boxing and addressing those in other trends or those who are simply skeptics about BA, I say, “You want evidence of why we consider BA a rare, precious, and irreplaceable communist leader? Start by reading this document, and then tell me of anyone else in the world today who even begins to come close to grappling with the questions outlined here with the same sweep and with the same depth and substance and with the same seriousness that BA has. He has dedicated his life to this, and spent decades developing this new synthesis of communism—and is continuing to do so.”

Although I have read this document a few times, I feel that I have only scratched the surface. When I first read the document, what especially stood out to me was the significance of the advances/ruptures in relation to all the areas that are outlined. Specifically, I considered how radical and new the conceptual understanding forged by BA on each of these elements is; the ways in which this understanding builds on, and at the same time in some significant ways diverges from, what has historically been the thinking around these elements within the communist movement; and also the profound implications that this new, more dialectical and more materialist, understanding of all this has for our entire project. I also reflected on why these advances/ruptures are so often undervalued, and what this has to do with the denigration of theory, as well as the phenomenon of sights of so many being so lowered from the truly radical and historic leap that is represented by an actual revolution aiming for the final goal of a communist world, free of all exploitation and oppression.

Even though the various core elements of the new synthesis, as indicated in this Outline by BA, are extremely wide ranging, what has stood out to me more than ever is the overall coherency of the new synthesis of communism. I think that this is an important point that is not well understood, and I wanted to briefly comment on this. This coherency clearly stems from BA’s consistent grounding in a scientific method and approach, which I have gained a deeper appreciation for over the course of the Cultural Revolution within the RCP, and most recently from this document and also the Interview with Ardea Skybreak. I feel that this Outline (in combination with that Skybreak Interview) has contributed to giving me (and presumably others) a more synthesized understanding of the interrelationship of the many layers and dimensions of the new synthesis of communism and how these different parts mesh together to form an integrated and coherent  whole. This understanding stands in marked contrast to a more mechanical and linear approach, which tends to view each particular theoretical breakthrough in isolation, divorced from other core elements or from the underlying scientific method and approach.    

The more that I have read (and re-read) this document, the more that it has caused me not only to think about the profound and qualitative leap represented by the new synthesis of communism, but also to reflect once again on what we have in BA and his leadership, and how precious he is to the masses of the world. Put bluntly, without the new synthesis of communism that BA has developed, we would not have the theoretical understanding required to emancipate humanity and forge a communist world. Those with responsibility to lead a communist revolution might still be well-intentioned, but we would be flailing, mired in idealism and continually pulled down in the undertow of various bourgeois-democratic, economist and reformist, and nationalist tendencies, unable to recognize how corrosive such tendencies are to making a communist revolution and advancing to a communist world. 

In reading this document, I was reminded of a statement made by BA that he doesn’t set out to write a great work; instead he proceeds from the orientation of meeting a great need. As this document demonstrates, this orientation has led to his wrestling with the thorniest contradictions that we face—and in the process, challenging the method and approach, and thinking on key political and ideological questions, that currently prevails within the communist movement. Furthermore, I think it is important to recognize that he has had to show tremendous perseverance and determination, because at every turn he has been met with resistance and outright opposition, as well as venom directed at him personally.      

It definitely does need to be said out loud: Thank you, BA for all that you have done and that you continue to do! The possibility of making an actual revolution and forging a new communist world has been greatly heightened as a direct result of the new synthesis of communism that you have developed, and are continuing to work to further develop, while providing leadership to the revolutionary struggle on so many crucial fronts.

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/395/get-the-ba-speaks-revolution-nothing-less-t-shirt-way-out-there-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

REPRESENT FOR THE REVOLUTION!

Get the "BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!" T-shirt WAY out there this summer

 

July 13, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Last summer, nearly a year ago, the suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, erupted into the national consciousness. Michael Brown, an unarmed Black youth, was gunned down by the police, and his body left on the street for four hours, in dishonor and humiliation. Courageous youths, from those the system has cast out, rose up in rebellion, manifesting on the streets night after night defying curfews in the face of a highly militarized police presence, and attracting support from all kinds of people in the process.

Ferguson broke out and followed in the wake of the police murder of Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York City, who died saying, “I can’t breathe,” “I can’t breathe” as the murdering cop continued to strangle him in a chokehold, all captured on cell phone video for the world to see. All of this, and the non-indictments of the murderous cops, has sparked a year of rage, ferment, and roiling. It has been marked by a significant rebellious upsurge in Baltimore and the recent white supremacist murders in Charleston, South Carolina, and mass protests and societal questioning, about the police, the historical role and place of Black people in America, and what is to be done.

In the iconic images of the last year, in defiance and rebellion, in mass takeovers of highways and streets, is the striking presence of those whose T-shirts boldly proclaim BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! This was merely a glimpse, not only of a critically needed revolutionary pole of attraction, but a gathering social force cohering around this pole.

The Initiative and the Campaign

BA Everywhere is proud to announce the launch of a mass fundraising initiative, lasting through this summer, to achieve societal impact with these T-shirts, putting forth a radically different answer to what is needed right now, REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!, and the leadership for this revolution in Bob Avakian, BA.

Not only do these T-shirts speak to and resonate with the sentiment of the moment, but in fundamental terms, BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! represents the real and scientific answer to these horrors—of why the police keep murdering our youth, why there is no justice and the murdering cops get away—and most important, what it will take to get beyond not only police terror and the oppression of Black people, but all of the myriad horrors, madness, and needless suffering that stem from this capitalist-imperialist system, its wars of empire, its criminalization of immigrants, its wanton destruction of the environment, and the horrendous attacks on and degradation of women around the world.

BA, Bob Avakian, has done the work to scientifically forge a new framework for human emancipation, the new synthesis of communism, including an actual strategy to make revolution in the U.S. and bring about a radically different and far better society, with a different economy and political system, a socialist society in transition to a world free of exploitation and all oppressive inequalities and social divisions. The world does NOT need to be this way, with all these horrors and this madness—and because of and based on the work BA has done, there is a visionary and concrete blueprint for this new society (in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal)), and the strategy and leadership for the revolution needed to establish this. BA Everywhere, the fundraising campaign to make BA a household name and his work a point of reference with broad societal impact, has to do with making this known throughout society, raising sights and radically changing how people look at what is needed, possible, and desirable. Imagine the difference... This initiative is one of the major ways to make this happen, to contribute to this campaign this summer and fall.

The Basic Vision and Dynamic

Imagine a growing social movement through the summer with the T-shirt BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! becoming increasingly visible in the neighborhoods of the oppressed, at summer youth concerts, in upcoming anniversaries such as those of the murders of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, all of this manifest in and spreading through social media, with dedicated Twitter hashtags, and on Instagram and YouTube. Imagine if a significant section of those wearing the T-shirt—through the summer—were more deeply getting into and struggling over the content declared in the T-shirt—of the revolution, of BA, through his works, especially the film REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion; A Dialogue Between CORNEL WEST & BOB AVAKIAN; the film of the same name, BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!; and BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian. If you in fact don’t know much about BA, these would be good places to start, and even as you are learning, and thinking about all this, agreeing, disagreeing, provoked and challenged by what BA says, if you feel this—BA and his vision—needs to be out there, sparking discussion and debate about revolution and a radically different world, stay engaged and contribute to this campaign.

In this process and dynamic of the summer, of fundraising for and getting out many hundreds of the T-shirts, sparking interest in the content of this revolution and what BA actually represents, accumulating forces for revolution through this, there are two critical moments to mark—the one-year anniversary of the murder of Eric Garner on July 17, and the one-year anniversary of the murder of Michael Brown on the weekend of August 9. Both weekends must be viewed and built as markers and nodal points in manifesting the growing presence of this social force, with these T-shirts, this message, REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!, and projecting this leader, BA!

We envision this whole process culminating with a mass manifestation of this growing social force—across the country, mainly in groups but also individually—of youths and others in these T-shirts on Saturday, August 22, followed by anchor showings of REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! in major cities, either that night or Sunday afternoon, August 23.

For example, what we currently envision is scores of people rolling up to and assembling at major intersections and public squares on Saturday afternoon and evening, all wearing the T-shirt, raising their fists, reading quotes from BAsics, with these images simultaneously projected around the world on YouTube and other social media. In New York, this could be in a neighborhood like Harlem or someplace like Times Square. Imagine the same kinds of things happening in LA, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area—and in Ferguson, possibly at the site where Michael Brown was killed; Cleveland, where Tamir Rice was killed; and Baltimore, at the epicenter of the recent uprising after the police murder of Freddie Gray—and many other cities across the country. Others send selfies, as individuals and groups, joining hundreds of others across the country... all connected through and seeing each other on social media, feeling part of something much bigger and truly meaningful. Imagine the difference... projecting an unmistakable manifestation of a social force around the country with these T-shirts, this theme—REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!, the leader speaking this: BA—and as an entrée and compelling invitation to critical sections of the people learning more and getting deeply into the content of this revolution and BA.

What Is Needed Is You!

Massive funds are needed—not only for the T-shirts subsidized for those who cannot afford it, along with DVDs of the films—of BA in dialogue with Cornel West, and in REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!, and the book BAsics—but more fundamentally, to further crack open societal discourse with BA and his work, to achieve BA Everywhere, and to project this growing social force onto a bigger stage. While there will be more coming soon on actual fundraising goals and means, we should all start thinking on how to raise big money for this initiative, who to go to and places to visit, especially among the propertied and middle strata, including progressive theaters and films, author readings and jazz performances, progressive churches, artist retreats—and campuses when they open. Donating funds is a very meaningful way, with impact, that all people can contribute to actually changing the world. Along with direct contributions, there are other means, including salons and house parties, art performances, auctions and book readings as fundraisers.

Fundraising among those who are less well-off, including at the bottom of society, is especially critical in building up the social base of support for this initiative—and for the revolution—through penny jars with dollars and coins, yard sales and pie bakes, or through neighbors and communities coming together to collectively buy and sponsor T-shirts for the youths who wear them.

For it matters!—it matters whether people “meet” and get to know BA, the best friend the masses have, fearlessly, consistently, and tirelessly struggling for our fundamental interests in getting free of all the chains; it matters whether people have access to the only real solution there is to all of these horrors and madness, a thoroughly scientific approach to what is the problem and what is the solution; it matters whether there will be a radically different and viable alternative posed in the discourse that otherwise seeks to re-direct the righteous rage and the profound questioning of people into the dead-end channels of faith—in “God,” in the elections, and in America, as the quest for a “more perfect union”;  it matters whether people can breathe freely, knowing a radically different world is possible and contributing to making it happen, or be stuck within the constraints of this system, humming in the background as it crushes lives and destroys spirits.

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/fund-letter-template-BA-everywhere-t-shirt-initiative-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

 

Raise Funds for Revolution—Nothing Less T-Shirt Initiative: A Sample Letter

 

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

This is sample text for the BA Everywhere T-shirt initiative that can be modified to draft fund-raising letters, for phone conversations and phone-banking scripts, and other fund-raising forms. For example, in the paragraph beginning “Since I have confidence...," the “X” needs to be replaced by specific numbers for the recipient of the letter.

 

Dear [Friend],

I am writing to provide you an opportunity to be part of an exciting initiative that is meaningful, with impact, and meets a great need in society at this moment.

Take a look at the attached picture with youth in T-shirts that boldly proclaim BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less! Look at their raised heads and proud smiles. These are youth—and others—fighting for a future different from the spirit-killing dead-end roads on offer from either “the street,” and the future of prisons, police and mutual slaughter that that brings...despair...or the global phenomenon of reactionary jihadism. When these youth put on the shirts they are identifying with revolution and promoting the leader of this revolution, Bob Avakian, BA—even as they are learning more about it.

BA provides real and scientific answers and the solution to all this madness and horror that the system inflicts on our youth—why do the police keep murdering our youth and where does all this come from, and most importantly, what will it take to get beyond not only this and the oppression of Black people, but all of the crimes and needless suffering that stems from this capitalist-imperialist system, its wars and its torture, its criminalization of immigrants, its environmental destruction, and its attacks on and degradation of women around the world. In the film of the same name, BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less!, BA says: “Those this system has cast off, those it has treated as less than human, can be the backbone and driving force of a fight not only to end their own oppression, but to finally end all oppression, and emancipate all of humanity,” a conviction he has never wavered from and is leading and fighting to make real.

Through the summer, in the ghettos and the barrios, in the summer concerts and the basketball courts, there have already been growing numbers of youth and others, wearing and representing in these T-shirts. But this beginning current must make a leap into popular consciousness. And that will take money. With images on social media, and culminating as a first step in gatherings across the country on the weekend of August 22, this can begin to represent a growing social force cohering around this pole. It will be a compelling invitation to all of society—and especially those who need it most—to learn more and get into who is it that speaks: BA, and the content of this revolution. Your donation can help make that happen—and prepare the basis for something really new and refreshing for the school year soon beginning.

Since I have confidence you feel this alternative needs to be made widely available to the youth, I am requesting a donation of $X from you. Funds will be used for subsidizing these T-shirts and some of the main works by BA for our youth. For example, $120 will subsidize 10 T-shirts or $100 will subsidize 10 copies of the film of the dialogue between Bob Avakian and Cornel West titled REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion (also online at www.revcom.us), or 10 copies of the book, BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian (Optional: Also, if you are not familiar with BA, I suggest these as places to start, and I can send you copies.)

Thank you for considering a donation. You can send your check to RCP Publications, PO Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654; Attention: BA Everywhere* T-shirts initiative. There will be info soon about how to donate online. Also, if there are other ways you want to contribute and participate in this initiative and campaign, including hosting fund-raisers, please contact me.

Regards,

 

* This T-shirt initiative is part of the BA Everywhere fund-raising campaign aiming to make BA and his work known throughout society. BA’s work, over the last few decades, has resulted in a new framework for the emancipation of humanity, the new synthesis of communism, summing up the experience of past revolutions and socialist states, and drawing from developments in science, history, art and other human endeavors. For more on BA’s new synthesis, go to www.revcom.us for THE NEW SYNTHESIS OF COMMUNISM: FUNDAMENTAL ORIENTATION, METHOD AND APPROACH, AND CORE ELEMENTS, by Bob Avakian, Chairman, Revolutionary Communist Party, USA.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/395/when-you-put-on-this-t-shirt-you-step-into-the-revolution-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

 

When you put on this T-shirt, you step into the revolution.

 

July 14, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From the Revolution Club

Bob Avakian, the leader of the revolution, has said this:

No more generations of our youth, here and all around the world, whose life is over, whose fate has been sealed, who have been condemned to an early death or a life of misery and brutality, whom the system has destined for oppression and oblivion even before they are born. I say no more of that. (BAsics, 1:13)

For that to happen, you need REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Bob Avakian—BA—has developed a way that we can make that revolution, for real. A way out of this horror and oppression. A way forward to emancipation. A way to actually go up against the monsters who run things now in an all-out struggle for power and to have a real chance of winning—when the opening emerges and the time is right. A way to fight today—for real—against the powers-that-be so that we build up our strength and change conditions to bring about that opening—as soon as possible.  

This revolution is not for or about just one group. This is a revolution to overcome ALL exploitation and oppression. A communist revolution. A revolution to bring in a world where there are no more divisions among people in which some rule over and oppress others, robbing them not only of the means to a decent life but also of knowledge and a means for really understanding, and acting to change, the world. And BA is leading right now, every day, to make that real—again, as soon as possible.

“BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less!” When you wear that shirt, you let people know about that revolution and that leader. But it’s more than that. You’re wearing this shirt along with other people, all over the country. You’re part of a whole movement letting people know that there’s a way to fight back, right now, as part of getting ready for revolution. You’re part of a movement for revolution letting people know that there’s a way to change ourselves as we do fight back, learning more about the revolution and setting a different kind of example with our lives. When you put on this shirt, you take the first step. You let people know that you, with other people all over the country, want to represent for the EMANCIPATION OF HUMANITY from this madness they’ve got us chained in.

Be part of the revolution. Take up the T-shirt.

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Check out BA. Start watching the film BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less! Or watch his dialogue on Revolution and Religion with Cornel West... or to listen to his Call to Revolution, where he puts the message out there in a sharp and powerful way.  

And run with the Revolution Club.

Humanity Needs Revolution and Communism

Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution

 

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/responses-to-BA-quote-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

Responses to a new statement by Bob Avakian:

"When Black people act, other people will act as well... I really like the idea of fighting to emancipate all humanity."

 

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

Revolution newspaper and the revcom.us website have been featuring this new statement from Bob Avakian, BA. We are beginning to hear about people's thoughts on the statement, and this week we are running some of those initial responses. But we would like to hear much more! Send in your thoughts on the BA statement. Get the statement out to people you know and get their responses. Get discussions going in your crew, neighborhood, Revolution Club, bookstore discussion groups, etc.—and send in reports of what people say (send to revolution.reports@yahoo.com).

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"When Black people act, other people will act as well. Black people have played a crucial role in the '60s. I really like the idea of fighting to emancipate all humanity."

Black woman in her 40s

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“Black people have been treated like slaves under this system—living through the terrible things that were done to them. It will be a beautiful thing if revolution can happen and humanity can be liberated.”

Woman from Guatemala

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“That is so true. I mean the whole thing, but especially the part about all of humanity [pointing to the phrase 'fighting to emancipate humanity']. I mean, we all bleed red, right? But people don't understand that. They don't think about what it would mean if Black people—and actually everybody—stood up together.”

Middle-aged Black man

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"I think this is a very powerful quote by Mr. BA because it's an everyday way of life, for me it is. It's not just a reaction, it should be proactivity, daily, not just waiting for someone to get shot or for a mass murder or some other injustice. To understand that there can be a solution, because I don't have an answer, it's worth supporting the cause. I'm tired of the band-aid fixes, it's a society of band-aid fixes. Look at medicine, the doctors don't cure, they treat. This has been going on, the injustices, since and before. The quote says there is something that can be done to end it, not just go out and protest. It has to be a concerted effort, total effort among the masses."

Revolutionary humorist

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"...the quote for me personally was a strong quote that tells the truth. The quote for me personally was talking about Black community, but also about many other races that have suffered for thousands of years since the Europeans colonized here. It tells the truth too because the part where he says, 'to put an end to the long night in which human society has been divided into masters and slaves,' we see that today the masters are the people who have more power and more money and the slaves are the people who don't have a voice to stand up and that are struggling with money and where he says how the system has exploited and dehumanized Black people and terrorized them in thousands of way is also true from the beginning when they kidnapped Africans and brought them to the U.S to be slaves and how now with police brutality towards the Black community, but also towards the races that are looked down upon. I also like how he is basically saying that the Black community and all the other communities that have suffered from oppression, racism, sexism, etc. will arise. That's my view on the quote."

16-year-old high school student, volunteer at a Revolution Books store

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“I agree with this—it is really heavy. It has all the ugliness right there, and it says that can bring out the beauty. I think something beautiful I’ve seen is more white people backing up Black people. That is beautiful.... We do need a revolution, but how?”

Young Black man

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"This quote speaks to a lot of the beautiful uprisings in the recent past, but then you see that they’ve always been crushed and then we’re still facing the same system. Now we can see the real potential to end it. You have this new synthesis that speaks to the uprisings in past revolutions, but it talks about how to finally put an end to the system. Things could be taken a lot further, there’s a strategy to not just get rid of one thing, but to end all forms of oppression."

Revolution Club member

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"I like it. I like everything about it. Growing up in the South, it is my reality. Especially the part where he talks about '...the long night in which human society has been divided into masters and slaves...' I grew up in Alabama when George Wallace was governor and I worked in the cotton fields, I know."

Black woman

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“It’s time for us to take a stand. We’ve been too long in this ‘long night.’ People of color have been oppressed for thousands of years. That’s enough.”

Black woman in her 30s

~~~~~~~~~~

“You should circle that word 'dehumanized' in red, cause that's what has happened to us, that's what happened to me. I have been dehumanized—at least they tried, but they didn't succeed. Then people would be drawn to read the whole quote because they understand 'dehumanize.'”

Older homeless Black man

~~~~~~~~~~

“This 'unprecedented beauty'... just saying it like that is so rare—for so long, African-Americans have been put down and cast in the most negative of ways."

Black woman

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"In any society, both beauty and ugliness exist. Both battle each other, remaining in an everlasting war that must be fought, without one the other would not exist. In our current society, and most previous societies, ugliness exists in innumerable but visible forms. Although this ugliness may completely blind us, may drain the hope out of us, may seemingly 'overcome' us. We must not forget that beauty lurks under the thin gossamer of ugliness, and even this beauty can be found within what is ugly. The way our society, government, majority has treated Black people is truly ugly and vile. But this treatment allows an unfound knowledge of the perversion of the system and a passion/will to end it. The Black population within our country is one of the last outlets (in my opinion) of legitimate, passionate revolution. This pure ugliness, the mistreatment of the Black population, can truly be turned into something beautiful."

High school student

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/how-can-we-not-take-responsibility-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

Reflections on running with the Revolution Club

How Can We NOT Take Responsibility
for the Whole Thing?

July 24, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader:

 

A professor once said to me, "I hate watching documentaries: they tell you how messed up the world is, and oftentimes how humans are causing those problems, but at the end of the film, there is no solution. They don't tell me how I can change things, or change myself, or help change others. They're all doom and gloom, with no hope or way to change things." Next year, I am planning to go to that professor and say, yes, human activity causes a slew of problems for the planet and other human beings, but there is a larger problem that we have to deal with –capitalism. And there actually is a solution... 

I was first introduced to the Revolution Club and the movement for revolution on my college campus. Some of the first things that struck me about the group were the passion expressed in talking about social issues, and the wide-range of issues it fought against. I was surprised that the Revolution Club members I met talked of stopping murder by the police, of stopping the enslavement and degradation of women, of stopping the demonization of immigrants, of stopping wars for empire, and of stopping the destruction of the planet. I could not believe they were taking on ALL of the major problems facing our society today; after all, so many single organizations fight against single problems, to no end. It also intrigued me that these individuals openly declared that they were communist. (I wondered, "What does communism have to do with all of these issues? How can they all be tied together?") All of these things combined increased my desire and willingness to explore and learn more about the background and goals of the Revolution Club.

As the year progressed, spring turned into summer. And occasional participation with the club turned into an everyday integration, cohesion, and unity as I participated in the Revolution Club Summer Project. A lot of the disparate elements began coming together. Some of my questions began to be answered, and my understanding of the answers began to deepen and to crystallize in my mind. The second slogan of the club, "Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution," became more than a rad slogan or a basic idea. We "Fight the Power" by protesting injustice and oppression, alongside of others who are doing the same (non-revolutionary communists included). We "Transform the People" by introducing them to and organizing them into the movement and to the leadership and work of Bob Avakian, by modeling a different culture, and by proclaiming the possibility and need for revolution. While each aspect of the slogan is important in its own right, they are anything but disconnected, and they are some of the key elements to making revolution itself! We are carrying out the strategy for revolution when we take our outrage to the streets, and when we discuss and spread theory, and when we lead people to understand the world more comprehensively and scientifically, as we also deepen our own understanding.

I have also become more certain that and passionate about WHY humanity needs revolution and communism (the first slogan of the club). People are suffering across the planet because of the vile and wretched system of capitalism-imperialism that we live under. On every continent, in every nation, in every city, and on every street someone or something has suffered (and continues to suffer) because of it, and it is totally unnecessary! The atrocities against the planet and the seven billion people who live on it should not continue a moment longer than it has to. This is why we must continue to hasten toward a situation in which we can make an actual revolution, one that tears down the system causing so much suffering at its very roots, and we have to do this as soon as possible. Communism is the system we must work towards because it will actually allow for healthy relations between people, the riddance of exploitation and oppression, and a positive relationship between humans and the environment.

In understanding why the world is in the state that it is in today, that it does not have to be this way, that there are things I can do and measures I can take to actually fight against the suffering I see and hear about, and actually ACTING on all of these things, I have also come to realize that it is both extremely difficult and extremely rewarding. Throughout the summer I encountered the particular difficulty of trying to deepen my own understanding of things by e.g., reading and discussing (there are so many things crying out to be read!), while also trying to organize other people into the movement, and make a radical impact on society as well (there are so many things that cry out to be done!). Despite the seeming discrepancy between time to engage more theory and time to act in the world, the theory I am grounded in has made acting much more meaningful. Moreover, just having an outlet to act and to channel my sadness and anger at the state of the world is extremely liberating! I am no longer faced by the thought that there is nothing that can be done about homelessness, about violence against women, or about police terror. There IS something that I (that each and every one of you) can do, and there is a solution to these seemingly disparate issues as well.

I have also experienced a lot of light-bulb-going-off, "ah-ha!" moments, as well as a lot of joy, as I began to engage Bob Avakian's work, and in particular BAsics and REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! (RNL) BAsics is a very accessible and versatile book: it lays things out very explicitly, and because of that it is a great tool to use for outreach, but that is not to say that you cannot have very lengthy discussions on single quotes. RNL, though difficult to sit through for six hours straight, was well worth it because it gave me a much clearer picture of why and how BA's method and approach to reality and revolution is so important and worthy of focus. The way he examined historical events and social issues (i.e., evidence for the destructive nature of capitalism) really demonstrated to me what it means to apply the scientific method to understand human society. The way he laid things out, on the one hand, made so much sense, while on the other hand there is also a lot of work that can and should go into understanding how he arrived at the conclusions he did arrive at.

Furthermore, as I learned about BA's leadership and saw it in action, and read about the important dynamic of leading and being led (in relation to the strategy for revolution), I have developed much more appreciation for both. It is crucial that the masses are led to understand the possibility and need for revolution and communism; otherwise, when a revolutionary situation arises (if that situation arises at all), there is the possibility that we miss the opportunity to go all out for revolution!

If we hate the world as it is today, and want to DO SOMETHING about it. If we understand the need to fight back against oppressive powers and forces. If we understand that the problem is capitalism and the solution is revolution – then we must ACT! We must be led, and we must lead. We must continue to strive to be scientific in our understanding of and approach to reality. And, we must give our ALL to trying to solve the problems of the revolution. There are seven billion people whose lives can be made exponentially better through revolution and communism – how, then, can we NOT take responsibility for the whole thing?

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/sunsara-taylor-stop-the-lies-and-attacks-against-planned-parenthood-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

STOP the Lies and Attacks Against Planned Parenthood!
Abortion On Demand and Without Apology!

by Sunsara Taylor | July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

A vicious new and extremely dangerous attack has been launched against Planned Parenthood, a major provider of abortions to women in this country. A Christian fascist anti-abortion organization released two highly edited undercover videos which they claim show Planned Parenthood agreeing to sell fetal organs and tissue. In fact, the video shows no such thing. Still, fascist governors in Louisiana and Wisconsin have seized upon these dishonest videos to open investigations into Planned Parenthood in their states. At the federal level, Republican leaders in both houses of Congress are contemplating measures that would defund Planned Parenthood, even at the risk of a government shutdown.

This attack on Planned Parenthood is a major move in a fascist assault to completely annihilate women’s right to abortion. It is a move aimed at returning to the days when women were much more openly viewed as property of their husbands and breeders of children. The fact that national government figures are openly contemplating shutting down the government over this reveals just how deadly serious they are. They want to force women to have children against their will. This is a form of enslavement and it must be STOPPED.

But the situation is not dangerous only because of the cold-hearted aggression of Republican law-makers to further strip women of the right to birth control and abortion (not to mention many cancer screenings and other basic health care) by de-funding Planned Parenthood.

This danger is exacerbated by the craven defensiveness of Democrats and leading pro-choice figures in the face of this attack. Rather than speak positively in defense of abortion rights, Bernie Sanders, the “progressive” Democrat running for president, joined in criticizing one of the Planned Parenthood executives for what he said was a “terribly wrong” tone. Democratic Senator Harry Reid made sure to mention that these videos “raised questions” before admitting that, as far as he knows, no law has been broken. Hillary Clinton, after nearly a week of deafening silence, very passively expressed that she is “hoping that this situation will not further undermine the very important services that Planned Parenthood provides.”

No! Those who made this video are completely illegitimate. They are dishonest and they are motivated by nothing but a stark, cold hatred for women. They know very well that demonizing abortion providers in this way has directly contributed to unleashing Christian fascist terrorists to bomb abortion clinics and kill doctors. There is nothing moral about any of this!

And those in government who are using this video as a pretext to spread lies about, viciously demonize, and shut down clinics that provide women with birth control and abortion are threatening the lives and the future of millions of women. They have no right to claim the “moral high ground.” They must be called out and STOPPED.

There is no reason—and can be no room—for defensiveness in the face of these fascists. Fetuses are NOT babies. Abortion is NOT murder. And women are NOT incubators.

It is more important than ever for people who do not want to see women forced to have children against their will to speak openly and boldly about the tremendous positive importance of abortion rights. It is important to counter the lies being spread, including through reading and spreading this article about what a fetus and an abortion actually are. And it is critical that people join in politically resisting and refuting all the lies and attacks being made against Planned Parenthood—and against any other abortion providers who may come under attack.

ABORTION ON DEMAND AND WITHOUT APOLOGY

FORCED MOTHERHOOD IS FEMALE ENSLAVEMENT

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/on-protesting-patriarchy-breaking-the-rules-and-challenging-everyone-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

On Protesting Patriarchy, Breaking the Rules, and Challenging Everyone in Order to Change Everything

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a member of the Bay Area Revolution Club and Stop Patriarchy

Five of us came together and most of us had never met. One young woman had gotten a babysitter that day and traveled from another county to protest pornography. She had been angry on the Internet so long, just seething about how women are endlessly exploited and abused in this world, and had been following Stop Patriarchy on Instagram for two years. She said, “It took me two years to muster up the courage to come out today.” She brought a friend whose convictions were just as strong.

Another woman met Stop Patriarchy at the Gay Pride parade. She is from an Asian country where porn is illegal but widely produced, purchased, and viewed. She had been shocked in coming to the U.S. to see such blatant sale of sex on every level, just out in the open, and such acceptance of it. After Pride, she came to Revolution Books to hear Sunsara Taylor’s recent talk, “STOP the Assault on Abortion Rights! Break ALL the Chains that Enslave Women!”

Everyone was nervous, and some had heard exactly how we would roll, while two had not. They had shown up out of sheer outrage. Our orientation was this: Pornography hurts women and brainwashes men to be about enslaving women. It’s a kind of revenge against all the advances women have made—training men that they have a right to women’s bodies, like it was more overtly in the old days. Dehumanizing women, and training men to expect their submission and servitude. Think of how quickly men can fly into a violent rage when they are rejected by a woman. That comes from the belief that women’s bodies belong to men and they are being denied what is rightfully theirs when they don’t get the submission of a woman. That’s the stuff that porn is made of, and what it spreads like a disease, at the same time the industry is exploiting women’s bodies, getting them hooked on drugs, raping them, sometimes selling them into slavery, and always discarding them in the end.

There was a lot of agreement with this.

And yet, it was said, there is a lot of confusion out there today about the reality of porn. The confusion comes from the same society that produces porn: Women really are treated as less than human. People think that being comfortable with sex means being comfortable with porn. That porn is sex. It’s easier to watch a woman eat shit on the Internet than to get a real sex education in this country. People need to know what is in porn: not sex, but degradation of women. People need to feel emboldened to reject that shit—it has to be de-normalized. Others are very uncomfortable about the whole thing but don’t feel they can say so (because people take it like you don’t like porn you don’t like sex).

That’s why we planned to go into these porn stores, recording, to expose what it is, take a stand and break the silence, and show others not only that they are not alone in their outrage at how women are exploited and objectified, but that there is a movement out there that is hell bent on ending pornography and every form of female enslavement. We’ll recruit as many people as possible into this movement: denouncing porn, promoting abortion rights, and fighting to end patriarchy.

Most of us had never been inside a porn store before. As we approached, one young woman said she was really, really anxious, and we slowed our pace a little. She was assured: Think of all the women that are being ground up by this industry that don’t have a voice. So many women can’t even walk alone at night in safety because all these men are running around all hopped up on entitlement and the drive to dominate, feeling that they have a right to women’s bodies in particular, and these days the heightened sense that they are being robbed of what is rightfully theirs. Today you are taking a stand for every woman, and leading others to do the same. Her back straightened, she took a deep breath, and just said, “Yes.”

At first, one person led the way, expressing pure contempt for the ways that one movie after the next promoted violence against women, reduced them to body parts, divided them into racist “flavor” categories, and sexualized suffering. Soon others began to pull movies off the shelves, and read them out loud, with increasingly open disgust. We left the store a few minutes after they called the cops on us, ramped up with outrage at everything we had seen.

We looked at each other, flush-faced. “Do you want to do it again?” It was enthusiastically unanimous. We crossed the street and went into another store.

The first thing we saw in that store was a dismembered anus with a vagina hole, in a box that said: “KAITLYN” with the brand name “Fresh Innocence.” The description said: “Young and Fresh! Pop her innocent young cherry with your large manhood again and again...” First we pointed out that this is literally a disembodied asshole and vagina with a female name. That is their view of what a woman is. Then we pointed to the fact that being “manly” always seems to involve destroying something beautiful, stealing innocence, and the idea of “ruining” a previously “pure” woman (“ruining” her, in particular for other men)... that is the view of woman-as-a-thing-to-be-defiled that is concentrated in that apparatus, and part of what coheres everything on the shelves.

We went to the back, where they have booths for private viewing. We were told women were not allowed back there, so we kept going! We rudely interrupted of the sanctity of silence and privacy where men are encouraged to get off on the degradation and abuse of women, the penetration of women by many men at once, their suffering, and their dehumanization.

We took one step out of that store before being immediately confronted by a man whose “process” had been disrupted by our outburst inside. He shoved out a wad of bills and said, “I will fuck any of you right now. One at a time or all at once.” We told him he could fuck off. This only underscored the fact—it is seriously perilous to be a woman in a world where men see you as potential property that they have a right to, and sex is a form of revenge.

As we split, we noticed the police had arrived at the other store, and we proudly strutted up to the busiest street in the city. Everyone was pumped up. One person was sick to her stomach at how much emphasis is put on the ravaging of children and very young women made to look like children. How that stuff crowds the shelves, and it’s men’s “right” to watch and get off on. The woman who had expressed her nervousness said, “I just needed to get worked up like that. I just needed to get really angry. I have it in me.” We agreed! We also agreed that women in general, by virtue of being human beings who are regularly treated like human garbage, “have it in them” to really bring the pain to patriarchy, and we have to find them.

One said, “How about how they’re telling us to leave, and we just DON’T!” Everyone laughed.

Going into a porn store in this way is a crazy rush! If you’re a woman, you probably know on some level how you’re being viewed in there, though probably not fully. The vibe is hostile and it’s clear this place is not for you. In there, you are being brutalized, humiliated, and degraded in a whole lot of different ways. If you’re a man, you actually are the intended audience, and if you are going into a porn store with Stop Patriarchy, there is a particular defiance you manifest, because you are refusing to be the wannabe slave master that this whole heartless culture demands you to be. Because fuck all that shit. No matter who you are.

We had completely violated all related social “norms.” This trash on the walls was openly being treated like trash. Not sexy. Not “taboo.” Just putrid. You break the rules because the rules are all backwards. You get loud because you, along with so many others, have been forced to be silent, in a world of rape, where women’s humanity is just being devoured by this shit. You do it because unleashing that fury is a crucial part of ending all this slave shit once and for all.

When you confront the prevalent view of women as what it is (woman-hating), you could get overwhelmed and give up. Or, you stop trying to keep your voice down and play it safe, because that’s part of keeping things exactly as they are.

One woman said, with a bit of awe in her voice, “We are badasses.” We furious five charged out onto Market Street, bullhorn blaring, chanting militantly, our sign up high, passing out many cards with the slogan, “If you can’t imagine sex without porn... you’re fucked” and ways to be part of this movement, as well as the article “Porn Is Real, and Really Must Be Ended If Women Are to Be Free,” from revcom.us. We were louder than life and full of pride and purpose, our voices echoing down the packed streets.

“Stop watching porn! Start fighting patriarchy!” We chanted, “Women aren’t objects, women aren’t toys! Women aren’t playthings for the boys!” Some people were repelled, and snatched their children away. Others straightened their backs, wanted to know what this was. We agitated on, exposing what we had just seen in the stores, connecting it to a whole epidemic of rape and violence against women, and issuing the call that everyone who is sickened at how women are degraded and dehumanized has got to get with this right now, and get with Stop Patriarchy all summer long.

We swung around to the cable car turntables and told the truth about how women need the right to abortion, how the right is being taken away by woman-hating fascists. How this is part of a whole war on women, that requires a force of fearless fighters for women’s liberation in order to defeat. We noticed a religious group nearby, but passed them up in the moment to call for the crowd to chant “Women are full human beings!” Then, because more of us wanted to get loud but weren’t sure what to say, we took turns reading from the article “Porn Is Real” on the bullhorn and calling on people to stand for women.

A white man in his 50s or so looked at us and said, “My wife is a sex object, and she loves it.” She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. We said, “Man, you sound like a wannabe slave master. Do you think that’s cool?” He asked what we meant, and we said, “An object is a thing. You’re saying your wife is just a thing to be used for sex. You should be ashamed of yourself,” and then we moved on.

A young Black woman was joining us in saying “Women are full human beings!” when we specifically called out the crowd, “If you believe it, you have to say it, loud and proud!” and she did. She called across to a man on the other side of the line and she said, “Do you hear that?? FULL HUMAN BEINGS!” We asked her if she thought that guy in particular needed to be reminded of that? She said yes, he doesn’t know how to treat a woman. We gave her some cards for her friends and she signed our list.

Those guys up the block were attracting some attention and we were all in a fighting mood, so we went back to see what the fuck they were. They were preaching that the apocalypse would bring about the ruling of Black men over all the women of the world. That would be their reward for enduring slavery and oppression: They would be rewarded by God as the slave masters and oppressors of women. Just straight up. They had a poster with a picture of a Black man with a crown, standing over women of different nationalities on their knees at his feet, which said “ALL WOMEN WILL BOW DOWN TO THE BLACK MAN.” There was another sign that had a Black man standing over a white man, woman, and baby who were all shackled with heavy chains. We engaged.

These men told us that all women who have been raped are being punished for being “attention-seeking whores,” and we “will get to see a real war on women” when the world ends, because women will be punished the most. We loudly denounced them, and soon people around were filming on their cell phones and several people were interjecting on the side of women. We yelled, “You sound 2,000 years old! Go back to the Dark Ages with that shit!” Some of us denounced the whole Bible as being a book full of slavery, and others argued that the liberation of Black people cannot come from the enslavement of women! And what a petty, vicious, and frankly juvenile aspiration anyway!

You can see in the above video that after reading the scripture that says a woman without shame should be counted as a dog, one of them keeps insisting, “And what is a female dog?” (calling shameless women bitches while trying to still look pious). At this point, everybody was alive and outspoken, taking on the woman-hating, putting up stickers against rape and for abortion on the wall all around those guys. One woman stood next to one of them and did exaggerated bodybuilder poses, making a mockery of masculinity.

After rallying a few people against those guys in the moment, we had gotten out over 200 flyers and cards, and made a proper scene wherever patriarchy had asserted itself. We sat in a circle in a calmer spot, caught our breath, and reflected on what happened, how it matches up with what’s needed now, and why it matters.

To be honest, there were a lot of people out there that could have joined us who didn’t. That was one observation, and we talked about how to understand why that is. We went back to some of the problem that was posed as we were getting ready to go into the stores. It is just not an obvious fact to a lot of people that the oppression of women is real. Just look at the ways so many women experience violence and oppression as a very personal, private, shameful, individual experience. We were bringing out the truth that one in three women will be raped, and that every 15 seconds a woman is beaten, so that people can find their rage about all this, when so many people (and women in particular) know that something is going on, but don’t connect it with a whole social phenomenon: a backlash of revenge against women.

Someone else added that the most responsive people in the short time we were raising ruckus were younger Black women. Clearly something was holding most people back, but those who joined in chants and crossed out of their way to get flyers that day were overwhelmingly young women, and many were Black.

One woman said this is a very sharp way to put the whole picture together for people: how the fascist assault on abortion rights and birth control and the increasing mainstreaming of violent and degrading porn is creating a whole brainwashing of a generation that a woman should be controlled and owned and punished for being a woman.

We also summed up that so many more people can and should be getting with this, and one thing that we can always do is constantly and actively invite individual people to walk with us, stand with us, join with us right there. We were still more projecting “Join with Stop Patriarchy” without as much emphasis on the “RIGHT NOW” other than getting small crowds to shout “Women are full human beings!” There was definitely quite a bit of breaking of the “fourth wall” so to speak, but there could be more.

A man literally tried to buy us that day. We were called a colorful variety of hateful terms. We were promised a future of hell and slavery for being so shameless. And we felt pretty damn good about ourselves, and driven to creativity about how to bring more people into the transformative and potentially earthshaking act of shamelessly challenging patriarchy, and being part of a force that is fighting for the liberation of women. Most women live life trying to avoid all this―for good reason!―and learn one way or another that it doesn’t work that way. The system is generating all this violence and hatred, and it is those of us who find it intolerable to carve out a way forward for all those who don’t know what they can do, or that there’s anything to be done.

One woman was just shocked and appalled at those Bible-wielding Nazis. That Black men could think that the compensation for their enslavement is the enslavement of women. Another woman said it did not surprise her at all. She had seen before that exact same interpretation of the Bible, but we also reflected on how many different versions there are of that. That’s what porn is! It’s what abolishing women’s right to abortion is! The truth is that aspiration for revenge, or the slaves becoming the slave masters... no version of that can bring about anyone’s liberation―gender, nationality, I don’t care who. The slaves that seek to rule over others forever will eventually be ruled over again, because you are keeping the whole organization of people and production intact, with laws and a culture that will necessarily reinforce all that, just switching up what group is on top. You are keeping the whole infrastructure of exploitation, and the oppressive relations and culture that relies on and supports slavery. So your ideal future is nothing but a skipping record of tragedy and brutality.

Everyone got a copy of the sampler, Break ALL The Chains: Bob Avakian on the Emancipation of Women and the Communist Revolution. The following, found in that sampler and also in the book BAsics, concentrates this fact with concision:

You cannot break all the chains, except one. You cannot say you want to be free of exploitation and oppression, except you want to keep the oppression of women by men. You can’t say you want to liberate humanity yet keep one half of the people enslaved to the other half. The oppression of women is completely bound up with the division of society into masters and slaves, exploiters and exploited, and the ending of all such conditions is impossible without the complete liberation of women. All this is why women have a tremendous role to play not only in making revolution but in making sure there is all-the-way revolution. The fury of women can and must be fully unleashed as a mighty force for proletarian revolution.
—BAsics 3:22

People were honored for fighting ferociously on the right side of what is a historical divide, in a time of great urgency, and pushed to explore Bob Avakian’s analysis and synthesis of how to actually put an end to thousands of years of women’s oppression along with all forms of exploitation and oppression. That at the same time we are moved by our outrage to fight right now and sound the alarm to bring others in, we should all also be digging into this―this represents the most advanced work that’s been done to develop a vision, strategy, and plan for an actual revolution that can bring about a radically different world—free from patriarchy, and free from slavery in any form. Bob Avakian and the Revolutionary Communist Party are dealing with the real problems of what it would take to get from here to that society. Actions like what we did today are part of what is needed in that whole sweeping view: what people accept or reject when it comes to how women are treated, has a lot to do with getting to that world, as we had only begun to discuss in basic terms. People were very interested in this, glad to have the sampler, and we promised to be in touch about that, as well as future actions. We all left stronger than we had arrived, and with a renewed determination.

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/protest-saturday-august-8-ferguson-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

From Ferguson-St. Louis Stop Mass Incarceration Network:

PROTEST!

Saturday, August 8  5:30pm-10pm
W. Florissant Ave. & Canfield Drive, Ferguson
4½ hours to commemorate the time Michael Brown’s body was left on the street

Michael Brown was Murdered –
Never forgive! Never forget!
Hands Up! Don't Shoot!
Stop Police Terror!  Which Side Are You On?

 

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

August 9th will be the 1-year anniversary of the murder of Michael Brown by killer cop Darren Wilson. August 8-10 will be marked by activities in Ferguson and St. Louis. In response to the murder of Michael Brown, defiant youth and others took to W. Florissant Ave. for days and then weeks refusing to back down in the face of tear gas, rubber bullets, and National Guard. This was HISTORIC. It sent a shock wave waking up millions and inspiring a nationwide struggle for justice long overdue. The Ferguson rebellion was righteous, needed and must be upheld. The people who stood up should be recognized for their courage, sacrifice and the huge difference their actions made.

The cold blooded, brutal murder of Michael Brown was covered up and justified, first by the St. Louis County Grand Jury and then by the Dept. of (IN)Justice. This showed once again why people were right to stand up and refuse to wait for justice that never comes while murder by police never stops.

1 year after the police murder of Michael Brown there is still no justice. Our struggle needs to grow stronger, more determined and much larger. As we act on this anniversary in Ferguson, also join with Cornel West and Carl Dix’s call for a major national manifestation against police terror and get organized for #RiseUpOctober to STOP Police Terror on October 24 in New York City.

Stop Police Terror! Which Side Are You On?

Ferguson-STL Stop Mass Incarceration Network   Octmonthofresistance2014@gmail.com  stopmassincarceration.net

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/which-side-are-you-on-rise-up-october-national-tour-first-stop-cleveland-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

Which Side Are You On?
Rise Up October National Tour—First Stop Cleveland

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On July 22, the national Tour hit the ground running in Cleveland. Sponsored by Rise Up October, this national Tour is a major step aimed at reaching thousands with the word of Which Side Are You On?/Rise Up October in New York City and organizing hundreds to build for and be in New York City on October 24.

Each day of the Tour was packed with outreach and organizing—with the Tour (led by Carl Dix and a group of people from NYC, and joined by youth and others from Cleveland, Chicago and California) making stop after stop throughout Cleveland.

First up on Day 1: a press conference announces the arrival of the Tour and calls on people across Cleveland to step up. The press conference: Turner Fair emcees and introduces Carl Dix (an initiator, together with Cornel West, of October 24). Then, the families of those whose loved ones have been murdered speak: Mertilla Jones and Carlos Jones (the grandmother and brother of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, murdered by Detroit pigs), Brenda Bickerstaff (sister of Craig Lamont Bickerstaff, who was murdered by Cleveland pigs), Joshua Lopez (whose uncle, John Collado, was murdered by the NYPD). Everyone is stunned as they hear the stories and feel the pain these families continue to go through every day, day after day—and inspired by their determination to fight for justice. Mertilla speaks to this when she tells people that her children and grandchildren should never let this fight die. Al Porter (representing Black on Black Crime), Lavitta Murray an activist for October 24, and Carol Steiner from Puncture the Silence speak to the press. (See  Cleveland Press Conference Puts Spotlight on #RiseUpOctober to Stop Police Terror/Which Side Are You On?) The spirit and message of the Tour goes out over the airwaves...on television and radio. The word of the Tour—and the urgency of organizing a massive demonstration in NYC on October 24—comes through loud and clear to thousands in Cleveland and beyond.

Then the Tour is off to march through the projects in the eastern part of Cleveland. The edge of the march is organizing forces to make Rise Up October a massive demonstration. As they go through the projects distributing palm cards, whistles and Stolen Lives posters, people come out of their houses and shorties grab up the whistles. A Revolution Club member reported: "People came out of their homes and I told them what October 24 was about and why you have to be a part of this. The police did not like that, so they sent police to the projects, and we kept exposing them for what they are: murderers. One pig got out his car to try and throw a football with the children, so we went up to him and agitated that these pigs are murderers and we challenged everyone coming out of their houses, 'which side are you on?' I said, 'look at the pigs acting like they're human.' A lot of people came out of their homes when I was agitating about them being enforcers and a lot of people took papers for the meeting that night at Manna Church. The police followed us all over—police cars everywhere we went. We then marched through the neighborhoods around the church, trying to get people to come to that meeting." The struggle with people day to day is to actually join the organized forces that are working to make October 24 be a truly massive protest.

Manna Church, 7 p.m.: Fifty people, young and old, pile into a storefront church in the heart of the Black community in the eastern part of Cleveland. The participants: loved ones of the victims murdered by police, people from the community, including two who had just heard about Rise Up October that afternoon in the projects and another who was busted during the protests following the exoneration of the pig tried for the murder of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams; people who are members of the church; and people from different walks of life who have been involved in the struggle against police brutality in the city of Cleveland; Revolution Club Cleveland members, and more.

People hear from the emcee, Lavitta Murray, a welcome from Reverend Frank Smith, and a message of support from Tamir's mother, Samaria Rice. Carl Dix presents to the gathering the necessity and aims of the demonstration in NYC on October 24. He is followed by Mertilla Jones, whose granddaughter, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, was gunned down as she slept next to her grandmother; Brenda Bickerstaff, whose brother Craig was shot five times and killed by Cleveland cops; and Joshua Lopez, whose uncle John Collado was murdered by the NYPD. Concluding the program, Carl Dix again comes to the podium and puts the question to all those in church: Which side are YOU on? Making October 24 the massive outpouring that it needs to be depends on you, people who are the hardest hit by police brutality and murder and people from every corner of society, stepping forward and wholeheartedly throwing into building for October 24. After the program concludes, those attending break down into working groups to make plans to organize for October 24 in NYC: outreach, fundraising and a group committed to taking responsibility for providing vast amounts of materials to distribute, renting buses to go to NYC, and everything that the other teams will need to reach out broadly in society, spread the word and organize people to go to NY, and raise the critical funds needed to do all that.

Day 2: It's been eight months since 12-year-old Tamir Rice was murdered by a Cleveland cop two seconds after he got out of his pig car and the Justice for Tamir Rice Coalition has called for a march to the Cleveland In-justice Center to rally and deliver a petition with 60,000 signatures demanding that criminal charges be filed against the pig who killed Tamir.

After a morning of reaching out to those they met on Day 1 and others in Cleveland, a contingent of people organizing for Rise Up October forms up with the Tour at its head. The Tour has brought a powerful sound system and the contingent takes the street chanting, "Tamir Rice, Which Side Are You On? Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, Which Side Are You On? Sandra Bland, Which Side Are You On? Indict, Convict, Send the Killer Cops to Jail--The Whole Damn System Is Guilty." A report from the Revolution Club member on the tour: "People looked on as we marched through the streets. People took Rise Up October cards. Before we even marched, a guy hooked up with us and said he wanted to know more about this. He bought a Revolution--Nothing Less! t-shirt and joined us on the spot. Another guy who had been at the meeting at Manna Church hooked up with us and put on the Revolution--Nothing Less! shirt, too -- the wield and accumulate forces for revolution always in our orientation."

When the contingent arrives at the beginning of the march for Justice for Tamir Rice, it swells, joined by Mertilla Jones and her grandchildren, and others who have come to the convergence and who join to carry the large Stolen Lives installation (banner?) through the streets, and who later signed on to build for October 24. People march on the streets to the criminal center for In-justice. At the rally, a range of people speak--from the Tamir Rice family, a union leader, a representative of the Nation of Islam and more. Carl Dix speaks towards the end of the rally, invited by the family of Tamir Rice, and calls on the protestors to join and build for the massive demonstration in New York City: Which Side Are You On?/Rise Up October. As a part of his speech, he gives a moving tribute to the courage of the Tamir Rice family and all the families of people who have been murdered by the police for continuing to fight through their grief and pain for justice.

Following the speeches, a delegation enters the In-Justice Center to deliver the petitions. And, as people waited for the delegation to return, Mertilla Jones and Joshua Lopez spoke about the murders of their loved ones by police. A poet performed. And Carl Dix spoke again, this time more deeply going into the necessity for October 24 to mark a leap in the resistance to police terror and murder and speaking to why he, as a revolutionary communist, is taking up this struggle as a part of preparing to make revolution—which can put an end to murder and brutality by the police and all oppression once and for all.

The petitions were successfully delivered and when the family comes back, Latonya Goldsby, Tamir's cousin, calls for the second phase—gathering 40,000 more signatures in the coming months.

The Revolution Club member reports: "After that [the demonstration] we went to a restaurant and summed up what the day was like. We came to the conclusion that October 24 was out there in a really big way... After that we went to the projects and marched through the middle of them chanting " Indict, convict send the killer cops to jail, the whole damn system is guilty as hell!" Kids came out of their homes and hooked up with us and we got plenty of whistles and October 24 cards out. The police rolled through and we blew the whistle on the pigs. The pigs rolled out, the kids were too excited. We told them that these whistles are for the pigs when they roll up. We got October 24 out there in a big way. The kids asked when were we coming back? We said soon. The kids asked could they go with us? They were so young, maybe from eight to 12, and it was a lot of them. We went to a rec center and the rec director hated us out there. I asked him, "which side are you on?" The pigs rode up and down the street. And the kids kept blowing the whistle on killer cops. People were coming out from all over the place to hook up with the Tour and the revcoms. The two guys that hooked up with us and put on the Revolution—Nothing Less! T-shirts said they want to go on the Tour with us. These are great developments. After the projects we went to Manna Church to have a meeting with Carl Dix. The meeting was good. Everyone is excited about going to the Movement for Black Lives National Convening tomorrow. I just can't wait till tomorrow. Now I got to get some rest."

As we write this, the Tour's stop in Cleveland is concluding. More news to come!

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/the-powerful-impact-of-going-to-sandra-blands-funeral-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

The Powerful Impact of Going to Sandra Bland's Funeral

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader:

Sandra Bland did not deserve to die—it was a terrible loss for her family and friends, and for society. As revolutionaries, we felt that we had to be at her funeral to express our grief and outrage that such a vital, beautiful young person could be cut down by an enforcer for this system because she was a Black woman standing up for her rights. We put out a call to everyone who was upset or outraged by Sandra’s death to go to the funeral too, to give their condolences and stand with her family. And we wanted to connect our deepest condolences, our outrage over her death and our refusal to live in a society where these completely unnecessary police murders keep happening—to connect all that with those who came to the funeral and with the wider world; and to bring them the message that there is a revolutionary way out of this madness and a way to fight police murder now.

This was a funeral of a beloved person, with all its heartbreaking finality and emotion. It was not a protest, and we wanted to respect and contribute to that. Some of us attended the wake and funeral and others stood on the grass by the street near the church with a large revcom.us banner, “To the Family & Friends of Sandra Bland and All Those Who are Grieving Her Loss: We Stand with You in Your Sorrow and Outrage.” Others held the “Stolen Lives” banner with pictures of some of the many people killed by police.

Hank Brown, a spokesperson for the RCP, Chicago Branch, conveyed the message in the pamphlet to the media. A part of that message was quoted widely: “I don’t know Sandra, and I don’t know what happened” said Hank Brown of Chicago. “But I do know she didn’t have to die. There’s an epidemic of police terror in this country and people need to stand up.”

As people were leaving, approximately 800 people got the pamphlet with the same words as the banner and the beautiful quotation from Bob Avakian on the back as they left the church. Some people took stacks to get to friends and people they work with. Many people—both family and friends of Sandra and those who did not know her—thanked us for being there. And a significant number stopped to talk. An undercurrent running deep in many of these conversations was people’s sorrow and outrage—and their strong feeling that something has to be done to stop the killing of Black people. Some were shaken because this was just one more in a series of senseless Black deaths. One person said “nothing has changed in America” and described this as a part of “the New Jim Crow,” referencing Michelle Alexander’s book. Others went over and stared at the Stolen Lives banner with the faces of just a tiny fraction of those murdered by the police. Often this was followed by “oh my God. I knew it was bad, but not this bad.”

What to do in the face of all this was a quandary for many people. Some argued for better screening and training of police. Others talked about changing people’s racist thinking or passing better legislation. Others were angrier and talked about how we have to fight back against this epidemic of police murder. One person described the police as “the KKK in blue.” Two young guys who said they were from a Black neighborhood called out the constant racial harassment from the police. They described what the police call “The Negro Olympics” when the police force Black youth to run down the street to see who is the fastest. Three young friends—two Latinas and a white woman, from the suburbs, one of whom had gone to school with Sandy—talked about not only their desire to fight police terror, but how “all our friends want to fight it too.” We called their attention to the importance a massive turnout on October 24 in NYC. We also encouraged people to dig into the RCP statement and learn about the revolutionary way out of this madness. One said she would take the call to her community group. Another will go talk about it at her church.

People were agonizing over how to come to grips with the pain and horror of Sandy’s death. A mother was sitting in the church with her very young daughter, when the daughter said: “Mommy, why did Sandy die?” At first the mom didn’t answer, so the girl asked again: “Why did Sandy die?” Finally, the mom said “They don’t know.” But, in spite of her mom’s shushing, the young girl kept asking: “Why did Sandy die? Why did Sandy die?” The fact that this is even a question that a girl this young feels compelled to ask speaks volumes to why this system has to be gotten rid of at the earliest possible moment. And the urgency of spreading BA and the revolution he is leading everywhere.

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/to-the-family-and-friends-of-sandra-bland-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

From the Revolutionary Communist Party, Chicago Branch

To the family & friends of Sandra Bland
And all those who are grieving her loss

We Stand with You
In Your Sorrow and Outrage

 

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On July 25, about 2,000 people attended the funeral for Sandra Bland held at DuPage AME church in Lisle, Illinois, west of Chicago. We will have more coverage of the funeral.The following is a statement from the Revolutionary Communist Party, Chicago Branch, that was printed as a two-sided, folded hand-out given to people at the funeral.

Cover/back page:

Inside:

Download PDF pamphlet Cover/back page | Inside

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/396/october-24-outpouring-against-police-murder-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

October 24 Outpouring Against Police Murder: Which Side Are You On?

An Audacious Plan...
And the Ways to Make It Happen

 

July 20, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Carl Dix and Cornel West, joined by many others, have called for massive demonstrations in New York on October 22-24, and especially on October 24. Why come out then? And why stop what you are doing now and throw into it?

Because police STILL kill Black and Brown children for playing with toy guns and choke Black men to death in Staten Island and Mississippi and then curse them at their last dying breath, because cops disappear a young Black woman into a Texas county jail and “somehow” she doesn’t come out alive, because 26 of these mad dogs stomp a young man for riding his bike the wrong way in Philly, because they shoot down and murder Latinos who have their hands in the air in LA or maybe throw a rock in Washington state while backing up... and it’s all on video and NOTHING IS DONE, still NOTHING IS DONE...

Why October 24? Because politicians now promise the moon while the system STILL keeps millions in prisons that bulge like the slave ships, and lock down and pen up whole communities... and there’s STILL one chance in three that the Black baby boy born today will end up in those cages... and talk is cheap but NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE...

Why October 24? Because you know it now, you’ve seen it, and you can’t be neutral, you can’t sit this out. Because last year people rose up and said NO MORE and that was great, that was fresh air at last. But it was all just a start and now they are trying to snuff this out with more murders and more lies, with jail terms and sweet talk and crumbs and snark—or else they try to change the subject to anything but police terror and the righteous struggle against it. And meanwhile the plague still rages... meanwhile the machinery of genocide grinds on, tearing and chewing up thousands each day, draining or wearing away, or blowing away the lives of tens of millions more over decades.

We have to either go forward—taking the resistance to another level—or we will surely go backwards...

Why October 24? Because we need badly, urgently, to reach and challenge and transform the thinking of millions, as we make clear to the whole world that there is a growing force that is determined to STOP this—a force which is not going to be turned back or deterred by confusion, lies, beatings, prosecution, and everything else they throw at it. Because we need urgently to reverse the whole direction of society.

And because right now the next crucial step to doing that is this: in New York, over three days in October, a massive effort to STOP this shit, to SHUT THIS DOWN... gatherings in the communities on October 22, in New York and all over the country... major shutdowns of the machinery of caging whole communities on October 23 in NYC... and a massive demonstration flooding the streets in NYC on the 24th. This will be anything but a passive demonstration where people are herded and marshaled—this will be people boldly in the streets, with banners from the communities hardest hit or from colleges or churches or unions... cultural crews... a serious festival of defiance that makes the city stop in its tracks. This will be those hardest hit by this plague alongside those willing to stand up for justice, putting a powerful political and moral challenge to the world.

As a reader wrote in “Reflections on June 30 Meeting to Stop Police Terror: October 24: We MUST Change Everything, Beginning Now," which discussed a major meeting attended by 150 people to launch this:

October 22-24 has got to take this ferment to another level—another level of breadth and another level of determination. These three days taken together must include people putting themselves on the line for this, as well as many thousands more out there in support of them, in such a way that it politically stops this country in its tracks and changes the terms and direction of society. It must call out to the world that there is a force in the U.S. that simply will NOT tolerate this... that this force is growing... and that “change is gonna come.” These days must put the rulers of this country back on their heels and give heart and a whole other level of initiative to the people.

This will be an outpouring aimed to force all of society to confront the question—WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? Are you FOR this horror? Or will you stand against it? All of society, everyone, will be forced to confront that question and will be increasingly compelled to answer it, with their actions and deeds, as well as their words. Because there are no neutrals... not when the murders and the locked-down, closed-down lives go on every single day... not when the hollow promises echo while killer cops walk free.

We have to make clear to the world the reality of this—and force this empire that brags of its human rights “at home” to stand before the world exposed for what it really is.

So that is the reason. That is the vision. And because our Party unites with this vision with all our minds and hearts, we want to offer our views on how everyone involved can effectively organize to meet the goal. We offer this because we think these ideas can help in pushing this forward into society... and at the same time, we eagerly want to hear from others, from everyone reading this, with your ideas.

Who Must Be There

First of all: those hit the hardest by this genocidal plague. Those from the Black and Latino communities who face the insults and guns and bullying and ugly physical abuse every day... those whose very conditions make it the hardest for them to take part... but those who—ONCE THEY RISE—can shake the whole thing up. The potential power of those who society casts off and demonizes has flared to life in Ferguson and in Baltimore, and when it did, it sparked and galvanized all of society. So on those days, there must clearly be a strong force from the hardest ghettos and barrios, from New York itself, and from people coming to represent from all over the country. And at the forefront: the loved ones of those murdered by the cops or locked down in the prisons, testifying and witnessing the truth. These loved ones already have played a powerful role in this new movement, and that role must be magnified in many ways through this whole process.

The Revolution Clubs that are led by our Party, while wide open to all ages, will make a special effort to reach—and challenge—the youth of the ghettos and barrios, including the desperate ones up against the hard edge every day, at the same time as we reach out to others working and organizing among these youth from their perspectives. But we don't see this as "our thing"—no, the more that everyone of all political views among those working for October 24 does this, the better.

The students. From the colleges and high schools, the youth whose critical eyes have not been dulled, whose voice and heart can challenge society. Walking out in the days before, shutting down and disrupting, making clear that a new generation is willing to put itself on the line to STOP this... to stand with those hardest hit... no matter what the powers throw at them.

The immigrants. Pushed into the shadows, living in terror of their families being torn apart, demonized and scapegoated and attacked for political gain, themselves victimized both by police and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)—standing up that day with those who have their backs.

Religious communities, including clergy, and people of conscience. Clergy and religious people have already begun to play an important role in this effort, and this too must grow. Clergy organizing their congregations to bear moral witness on those days will make a powerful statement.

And all kinds of people way beyond that. Prominent people in the arts and sciences and other arenas, wielding their influence and using their platforms to make clear their stand, to call on others... unions... legal and civil liberties organizations... all kinds of groups and organizations of people who have been active around this... fraternities, sororities, and other social organizations of Black and Latino people... people coming from the cities and suburbs, and also the small towns, from the East and all over... those who fight for the Earth, who fight for women and the LGBT community, who resist the war crimes... all there, saying NO MORE.

We Must Take This to the People and ORGANIZE

To make this real, we need to organize. The first big steps have been taken. Since Cornel West and Carl Dix issued the Call for this in June, it has been signed by many prominent people—voices of conscience and witness and struggle—and begun to be circulated. Scores of people have come to organizing meetings and set about the hard work. Word is getting out, including through people standing up and fighting on the anniversary of the unpunished chokehold murder of Eric Garner by police and going to other sites of struggle. But more must be done. We have to take this to the people and we have to get people involved. To do what is being envisioned will require thousands of people pitching in, in one way or another.

We ALL of us have to organize, and on a whole other level. Our Party... and everyone else who wants to see this stop. However you see stopping it... whatever your goals... coming together NOW for October 22-24.

How?

We have to bring the reality of this before people, in ways that let them see the true scope and horror of this. Most people—even people who hate this injustice—still don’t get the full scope and scale of what is being done to the masses! Let’s go to people with the Stolen Lives poster, either in organized groups or just passing it out wherever we go, on the subway or wherever, pinning it up in stores and schools and laundromats. The point is that this has to blanket everywhere, and especially the NY area and East Coast. Even if you work all day and all night and don’t have a minute to spare, then pass these posters out on your way to and from work... but get them out and get them up. (And the same goes for other materials: palm cards... copies of the Call... and so on.) By the time fall rolls around, everyone should have seen these materials much more than once and they should recognize the Stolen Lives poster and what it’s about.

And let’s find platforms for the loved ones of the victims, letting them testify wherever they can. A start: reach every church, mosque, synagogue, or other religious site and ask them to have a Stolen Lives relative speak to their congregation. Reach every progressive or decent teacher/professor and ask them to do the same in their classrooms. And so on.

We have to draw the lines sharply—precisely to draw in the greatest numbers. This may seem counter-intuitive, particularly as many will resist a sharp challenge at first. But if we DO take people to the reality of this genocidal plague and to the actual stakes of this moment... to what it means to let this keep dragging on, to effectively consign future generations to the same—or a worse—fate... to the rare opening that now exists to radically change the terms... then there is every basis to win people to really sacrifice and make this happen. In fact, there ARE no neutrals—to do nothing, to take a time-out or a “pass” on this, is to be complicit in something very ugly and utterly intolerable. So, yes: which side are you on? must be the question and the moral/political challenge we pose to one and all. Silence... standing aside... is complicity.

We have to give people ways, big and small, to be part of this. Everyone who is interested should be given materials to get out, asked for donations, and given a way to get in touch. If you are out in a group, encourage people to join with you—even if they are there to stand around and observe at first, that’s part of getting this going and part of them “learning the ropes.” Take time to sit down with people on the spot—or let people know a McDonald’s or Starbucks where you will be later. Learn from people what is up in the neighborhood and who to go to and how to approach them. We are giving people a chance to do something great, to be part of standing up against this horror in a way that has never been seen in this country, a chance to bring in a new day. Give people whistles and explain how they are used, to alert everybody when the pigs begin messing with people. If you are housebound or for other reasons should not be passing out political literature on the street, then get lists from the committees and phone-bank or use social media—to get out the word and especially to raise money.

But that’s not all. Returning to “Reflections,” the point was made that:

Getting people’s ideas onto the floor and recording their names and ways to contact them is just a beginning. People’s efforts and ideas need to be drawn on and sifted, cross-fertilized and knit together into something very powerful—and not in two or four weeks, but now. In fact, we have to be not only ready but aiming, right on the spot, to draw people into things—whether people from this broad movement are flyering or mounting some kind of resistance to police terror, either planned or spontaneous. They then in turn become part of things then and there, and work to draw in others. That has to be much more the “style,” or the “signature,” of this movement.

This must especially be done in the communities of the oppressed, where the people are hit the hardest. And we must go back over and over again, and stand with people and help organize it when they “blow the whistle” or otherwise stand up. But it should not only be done there. Even now, before school is in session, let’s seek out young people in the parks, on the beaches, at festivals and shows and clubs... again, saturate people with materials and give them ways to be part of this.

Every organization sincerely trying to end this plague should be invited into this. Here again we’ll quote “Reflections”:

There can be and needs to be all kinds of views [among the people building for this] about what kinds of changes are needed in society and how to go about them and how to view the police themselves. We can and certainly should talk frankly, and struggle about, larger questions as we work together (and we can and certainly will wrangle out differences over HOW to best mount these days of action). We can talk with some of the leaders at the same time as we reach out to the people in these groups. And we can’t take “no” for an answer—there is too much at stake here, for millions, and we have to keep going back to that. The point is this: everyone must get together to end police terror and this means uniting the broadest number of people around that, even as we bring forward our full understanding.

Make the “Which Side Are You On?/Rise Up October Tour” a Really Big Deal

This week, some people are going to Cleveland on a tour to promote October 24. They are going to talk with different organized groups and prominent individuals... they are going to the Movement for Black Lives national conference ... but most of all they are going to those who are hit hardest by this every single day of their lives, and they are also going to raise hell about the outrageous crimes carried out by the Cleveland police—like the murders of Tamir Rice, Timothy Russell, Malissa Williams, and too many others. This crew will bring a powerful message, getting out materials and organizing people on the spot... getting the word out. In two weeks or so, they will be going to Chicago and on to Ferguson, marking the important anniversary of the murder of Michael Brown and the resistance that followed. Then, sometime in late summer or early fall, the tour should go to Baltimore, before the trials begin of the killers of Freddie Gray, and on into the five boroughs of New York and other major cities. These tours should be made up of both longtime and brand-new fighters, and should draw people in on the spot. And here too there should be a special and amplified role for the loved ones of the victims of this system.

Breaking This Out in the Media

October 24 should be operating on a lot of different levels—including in the media and social media. One big tool in this is the Call for October 22-24. This Call is compelling, and many people—including many people with influence among different kinds of people—have stepped out on this. Plans should be made now to 1) get this out to even more people of prominence, 2) raise money to print this, and 3) figure out other ways to get this into the media and social media, including urging those who have signed to write and speak about it.

Artists and people who work in culture—including those who have signed the Call, as well as many who have not yet done so but could be won to this—should be consulted and worked with.

A big part of breaking this out is making the website for the Stop Mass Incarceration Network much more dynamic AND getting this into social media.

But this is connected to a larger point: the larger coalition sponsoring this is going to have to get much better organized, and everyone who sincerely wants to see this happen needs to take a hand in that. To quote again from “Reflections”:

There have to be simple ways for everyone to take a hand, and to communicate their ideas. Again, there simply cannot be a situation where people are made to wait “until someone gets back to them”—things are too urgent, people’s ideas and enthusiasm at this meeting were too alive, and no effort or positive impulse can be squandered or left on the vine.

This does require things like major fundraising and a central office that acts as a nerve center, ready to knit together every initiative, every desire to help. It would be very important, for instance, to be able to call volunteers en masse to New York beginning in September—but this will require funds, housing from supporters, and all kinds of coordination to make it happen. But happen it must. And soon—like now.

One final thought for now: We should start getting ready, beginning in a few weeks, to hit the freshman orientation weeks on campuses, and to be there when the high schools open—with stickers, posters, palm cards, and organizing kits. A student network should begin soon, taking the lessons of the April 14 #A14Shutdown outpourings this past spring and learning from those, and doing exponentially better this time.

None of this is meant as any kind of last word, but a beginning. Write to our website or newspaper (at revolution.reports@yahoo.com) and let us know your thoughts and what you are learning, what you are running into and what is moving people. Together, let’s fill a great need and turn this whole society around.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/richard-linyard-didnt-have-to-die-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

Richard Linyard didn't have to die.
The whole damn system is guilty!

July 22, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From the Revolution Club, Bay Area

Our hearts go out to Richard's mother, brother, fiancé, and all his family and friends. No one should have to go through what you all are going through. Rich was 23 years old, full of life with a big smile, an aspiring and talented artist along with his brother, pouring their heart and soul into the music.

Now Rich's young life has been cut short after being chased down by Oakland police. The media is saying that he ran after being stopped and then the police found him already dead “wedged between two structures.” Police told his family that he died from choking on vomit. The whole story sounds like bullshit! We know the police lie all the time in order to cover up their brutality and murder. Remember how they tried to say Freddie Gray broke his own neck! Or the story about Victor White, who police said shot himself in the back of a police car while his hands were cuffed behind his back! So what really killed Rich?! Did these pigs choke him to death when they found him hiding? Did they tase him to death?

Even if the police and media story is true, THIS WHOLE DAMN SYSTEM IS STILL TO BLAME! Why did Rich feel like he had to run in the first place?! These police are not here in neighborhoods like East Oakland “serving and protecting” the people. They're out here, like a Runaway Slave Patrol, serving and protecting the system that rules over the people and keeps them in these conditions of poverty. Why do so many have to hustle just to survive in the first place?! This system has no good jobs and no future, besides police terror and mass incarceration, for millions of Black youth. This system has a target on the back of Black and Brown people. WE DO NOT HAVE TO LIVE THIS WAY! Bob Avakian, the leader of the revolution, has said this:

No more generations of our youth, here and all around the world, whose life is over, whose fate has been sealed, who have been condemned to an early death or a life of misery and brutality, whom the system has destined for oppression and oblivion even before they are born. I say no more of that. (BAsics, 1:13)

There is no necessity for Rich along with countless other young Black males to lose their lives or be forced to live this way! What does it take to truly change all of this? A challenge for all of us, but the possibility exists through a movement of millions for REVOLUTION. We are working today to prepare the ground, prepare the people, and prepare the leadership for the time when thousands can lead millions to go all out to bring this system down. A revolution means getting rid of this dog-eat-dog capitalist-imperialist system, and replacing it with a system in which people’s needs are met and the means to thrive in their full potential are made possible, and a whole new way of organizing society where people contribute by giving back according to their abilities, a system of communism. This movement, the organization and the leadership exist, but it needs YOU to be part of it. Hook up with the Revolution Club. Wear the Revolution—Nothing Less t-shirt and represent for the revolution! Get organized for revolution!

 

revclub.bayarea@gmail.com * 510-830-9650
IG & Twitter: revclub_bay * Facebook: Revolution Club, Bay Area

REVCOM.US

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/again-police-murder-black-man-in-cincinnati-for-alleged-missing-license-tag-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

AGAIN! This Time Police Murder a Black Man in Cincinnati for an Alleged Missing License Tag

July 22, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

Yet again! Another Black man murdered by police for an alleged minor traffic violation! On Sunday, July 19, a University of Cincinnati cop stopped 43-year-old Samuel Dubose supposedly for a missing license tag. Before the encounter was over, the cop shot Samuel Dubose in the head, killing him. Police claim Dubose was driving away. First, who believes anything the police say? But what if he was? Is it a crime to drive away from a “driving while Black” traffic stop that could lead to your death at the hands of police!? And is there a death penalty for that!?

The murderer is on administrative leave with pay – a paid vacation reward for murdering an unarmed Black man!

Samuel Dubose's mother, Audrey, said he was "full of love." His nine-year-old son, also named Samuel, told a Cincinnati TV station that his father "was coming home that night and we had a projector so we were going to watch a movie on it but we didn't get to do that ... because he died."

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/lapd-gets-away-with-two-more-murders-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

 

LAPD Gets Away with Two More Murders:
Omar Abrego's Killers Go Free and Alesia Thomas' Killer Gets Slap on Wrist

 

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Omar Abrego

On July 21, the Los Angeles Police Commission announced that the cops who chased Omar Abrego, a Mexican immigrant and father of three, smashed his head on the sidewalk, and beat and stomped on him so badly he was taken to intensive care, only to die a few hours later—did nothing wrong.

The autopsy—which the police refused to release for six months after they murdered Omar Abrego in August 2014—described Abrego as having significant cranial facial swelling and bleeding under the skin; a large laceration over his left eyebrow, and multiple contusions and abrasions on his body and arms and legs. He also had a severe concussion. All of this is consistent with the accounts of eyewitnesses who described the cops repeatedly punching and striking him with fists and clubs. A video of the beating shows a pool of blood under his head.

But all this meant nothing to the Police Commission. The coroner’s report calling his death a homicide meant nothing either. In the end, they blamed Abrego’s death not on the pigs who chased him down, stomped on him, and put him in intensive care but on the supposed effects of cocaine, while listing the “physical and emotional duress” caused by the beating a “contributing factor.”

Omar Abrego was murdered only six days before the August 9, 2014 murder of Michael Brown by Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri.

 

Alesia Thomas

On July 24, a judge sentenced an LAPD cop—who had been convicted in May by a jury of “assault under color of authority”—to 36 months in jail, with the last 20 of those months suspended. According to the Los Angeles Times, she could be released within five months with good behavior.

What was that assault? In 2012, Officer Mary O’Callaghan was caught on dashboard cameras beating, striking in the throat, and repeatedly stomping on the genitals of a woman shackled hand and foot in the back of a patrol car. Alesia Thomas had been trying to comply. Then she can be heard saying, “I can’t move; I can’t breathe” as she’s being shoved in the back of the car. At one point the cop tells Thomas she’ll be “crushed” if she doesn’t do what she’s told and then repeatedly kicks her in the groin. When she’s done, O’Callaghan laughs to her buddies, saying she has to go have a cigarette—meanwhile, Thomas is slipping into unconsciousness.

O’Callaghan, who spent 13 years in the Marines and now 18 with the LAPD, was amply trained to carry out wanton murder. But she never faced a murder charge. Once again, they used the coroner’s report, which said that they found cocaine in Thomas’ system, to claim that it wasn’t possible to determine what role the struggle with the cops who arrested her played in her death.

Nearly a year from the time the people of Ferguson, Missouri awakened the country by standing up and declaring “No More,” we’re seeing the powers-that-be in one case after another giving their answer—killer police are still being set free, sending the message that the wanton brutality of the enforcers of this murderous system has the full backing of the rulers who control them and rely on them. For the people, each new outrage has to fuel our determination to be rid of this system once and for all—and to make the nationwide outpouring against police murder called for October 22—24 a big step toward that.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/east-oakland-remembers-richard-linyard-and-says-no-more-police-murders-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

“No more killing of our young people!”

East Oakland Remembers Richard Linyard and Says No More Police Murders

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader:

On the evening of July 24, about 100 people gathered at 64th Ave. and International Blvd. in East Oakland near a memorial display for Richard Linyard, a 23-year-old Black man who died the previous Sunday following a confrontation with police in a routine traffic stop. (See “Richard Linyard didn’t have to die. The whole damn system is guilty!“) People came to remember him, protest his death, and say “No More” to the epidemic of police killings of young Black men.

On the memorial were messages of love and outrage: “This shit ain’t right, bruh,” “Fuck the system, you are truly missed,” “God bless your smile,” “I love you son, Momma.”

Richard was a musician who rapped under the name Afrikan Ritchie. He had many friends of different nationalities as well as family in the community, who were instrumental in organizing the protest and march. Some others at the protest didn’t know Richard before but wanted to take a stand against yet another police killing. One woman, whose son was killed by the police, said that she drove an hour to be at the protest. A sentiment of the crowd was best expressed by a young woman who shouted, “No more killing of our young people!” repeatedly.

As people gathered, Richard’s music was played over a small speaker amplified by bullhorns and people took turns expressing their outrage at his death. Others took stacks of the leaflet from the Revolution Club and signs against police brutality into the busy street stopping cars, which responded with supportive horns and raised fists.

A veteran revolutionary led people in reading a quotation from BAsics by Bob Avakian in a call-and-response style: “No more generations of our youth, here and all around the world, whose life is over, whose fate has been sealed, who have been condemned to an early death or a life of misery and brutality, whom the system has destined for oppression and oblivion even before they are born. I say no more of that.” (BAsics, 1:13)

Seven people bought BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less! T-shirts and donned them on the spot to join others already wearing them, adding a revolutionary edge to the protest. Revolution was in the air through the night.

Richard’s mother got on the bullhorn saying that the police had stolen her son’s life and that too many young men of all nationalities are being killed and that the people shouldn’t stand for it. Soon a march of more than 80 people took off, led by members of Richard’s family. The march, with whistles blaring, took over both lanes of International Blvd, the main street through East Oakland. Police trailed the march, threatening people with arrest if they didn’t get out of the streets—at which point some people who had been marching on the sidewalk went defiantly into the street.

The most popular chant was “Richard didn’t have to die, we all know the reason why! The whole system is guilty!” Other chants rang out: “Justice for Richard!” “No Justice, No Peace!”

At one point several police cars converged on the march and police jumped out, apparently targeting someone on the march. A line formed between the police and the demonstrators and soon the police were beating a hasty retreat amidst chants of “Fuck the Police” and blowing whistles.

After the march ended people hung around, standing in the street and stopping traffic, hugging each other, lighting the candles and writing messages on the memorial for Richard.

Members of the Revolution Club and supporters of Revolution newspaper distributed Club cards for a showing of the film of the Cornel West-Bob Avakian Dialogue on Revolution and Religion next weekend in the community, as well as copies of Revolution, and let people know about a gathering the next day in Oakland as part of nationwide actions for Sandra Bland. A crew of people from the Stop Mass Incarceration Network passed out leaflets and organizing for the #RiseUpOctober actions in New York City on October 24.

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/awtwns-afghanistan-the-occupation-continues-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

From A World to Win News Service:

Afghanistan: The Occupation Continues and the War is Intensifying

 

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

July 20, 2015. A World to Win News Service. At the moment every aspect of life of the people in Afghanistan is marked by the war and its development. So it is important to concentrate on the state of the war and the way the occupation is continuing to intensify it.

There have been major changes over the last year. On one side, despite or because of 14 years of occupation, there has been a broadening of the spectrum of Taliban operations. On the other, after a presidential election that led to accusations of fraud and finally a power-sharing compromise between two main candidates, the Afghani government has signed strategic agreements with the U.S. and NATO that also step up the war, both by keeping foreign troops in the country beyond the promised date for their withdrawal and by an increased role for Afghani troops under U.S. and European direction. Afghanistan has also witnessed the emergence on its soil of the Islamic fundamentalist Daesh (also called ISIS or ISIL), a rival to the Taliban.

The Bilateral Strategic Agreement

Ashraf Ghani, the new president of Afghanistan, signed the long-awaited bilateral strategic agreement between the U.S. and Afghanistan a short time after he came to office. It allows U.S. forces to stay beyond 2014, when they had initially promised to leave, and for as long as an additional decade.

The agreement also renews the legal immunity for U.S. troops that puts them beyond the reach of any present or future Afghani law. No U.S. soldier can be arrested or put on trial by Afghans, even for the most horrendous crimes, whether the many authorized massacres from the air and on the ground, or unauthorized killings such as the murder of the ten children and six adults by an American soldier in a Kandahar village in March 2012.

"Under the Bilateral Security Agreement's annexes the U.S. military will have access to nine major land and airbases, to include the massive airfields at Bagram, Jalalabad and Kandahar, staging areas not only for air operations in Afghanistan but the U.S. drone strikes that continue across the border in tribal Pakistan," wrote the Guardian, September 30, 2014.

This agreement gives present and future U.S. presidents the authority to increase the number of American forces to any level they might want. As described in the same Guardian article, the accord's terms "acknowledge that U.S. military operations to defeat al-Qaeda and its affiliates may be appropriate in the common fight against terrorism." In plain language, contrary to President Barack Obama's pledge, U.S. troops are continuing to wage combat operations in Afghanistan, and the current draw-down of their forces can be reversed if the U.S. deems it necessary.

The occupiers are trying to give people in their own countries and all over the world the impression that the war in Afghanistan is coming to an end because they have fulfilled their aims.

Neither aspect is true. The war is not coming to an end and they are planning to stay in Afghanistan for a long time. What could be different is that this war may be more fully fought at the expense of Afghani lives on both sides, significantly reducing U.S. financial expenditures that have risen to $1 trillion so far.

After drawing down some forces in December 2014, the U.S. still has around 11,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and a similar number of mercenaries (euphemistically called "private security contractors"), without counting armed and unarmed civilian employees. The U.S. intends to use its Special Forces and advisers to lead Afghani troops, while continuing to take part in some combat operations where they can use best use their technology. The U.S. had initially scheduled a reduction of its forces to 5,500 by the end of 2015, but the new Defense Secretary Ashton Carter later announced that this pace will be slowed down, presumably to enable the U.S. to continue the combat operations that it had promised to end last year.

The war will continue and its nature remains the same, but more Afghan soldiers—the army of 350,000 that they have trained—are now supposed to fight and die for U.S. global interests. In 2014 alone, 5,000 Afghanistan government security forces were killed, compared with the 3,500 U.S. and NATO troops killed since the beginning of the war.

At the onset of their invasion of Afghanistan, the imperialists justified it by claiming it would be a big blow against armed Islamism on a world scale, that it would annihilate fundamentalism in Afghanistan, build a strong government based on "democratic" values, liberate women from backward and fundamentalist forces, and finally bring peace, security, stability and prosperity for the people of Afghanistan. We can see none of these things after 14 years of war and occupation, and they have never been the war's purpose.

Speaking of his troop reduction, Obama said "that the international effort in Afghanistan had devastated al-Qaeda's core leadership, brought justice to Osama bin Laden and disrupted terrorist plots. He said U.S. troops and diplomats had helped Afghans reclaim their communities and move toward democracy." (Associated Press, December 28, 2014)

First of all, this statement about "devastating al-Qaeda's leadership" is not true. The network is bigger and more powerful than ever, with bases and influence in many countries with a substantial Sunni Islamic population in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. In fact the biggest danger to Al-Qaeda is neither the U.S. nor the Afghani government army but its Islamist competitor Daesh.

If Obama is referring to the killing of Osama bin Laden as a success achieved through his war in Afghanistan, the truth is that it had nearly nothing to do with the U.S. occupation. There have been many media reports, which while unverified strike serious observers as plausible, that he was hidden by Pakistan authorities, given a safe house by the ISI (the Pakistani secret service) near a military garrison where he could be protected. And even if the U.S. was not aware of his hideout from the beginning, this was an issue between the U.S. and its "special ally" in the region and not necessarily related to the course of the Afghanistan war.

The occupation has not "helped Afghans reclaim their communities and move toward democracy." Instead it plunged the country deeper into war and destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. According to the study by the Costs of Wars Project supervised by Nuta Crawford, a professor of political science at Boston University, "The wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan have left nearly 150,000 soldiers and civilians dead... Another 162,000 have been wounded since the U.S.-led offensive that toppled the Taliban." (Agence France-Presse, June 3, 2015)

The same study also indicates that these wars have also caused even more indirect deaths, as people are killed by malnutrition, the lack of health care and the hardships of war and displacement. It estimates that for every death due to direct effects of war, "bullets, bombs, fire and so on... three to 15 die indirectly."

The State of the War

The horrific crimes and constant abuses committed by the occupiers through their continuous stop-and-search operations, night raids on village compounds, bombardment of civilians and other random killings all supposedly targeting the Taliban, seem to have made it stronger and deadlier than ever. The Taliban have increasingly demonstrated their ability to pass through the tight security measures imposed on protected areas and buildings in Kabul and penetrate into the heart of government institutions. Their assault on the Afghanistan Parliament building in June, sending officials and parliamentarians scurrying, was an embarrassment to the security forces, the government and the occupiers.

In another military operation, the Taliban captured Yamgan district in the province of Badakhshan in the country's North-East. More than 300 Taliban fighters started an attack in the early morning on June 6 and seized the district center before noon. Shah Walliualah Adeeb, the governor of Badakhshan, "confirmed the fall of the district and admitted that the government security forces had retreated half a mile from the administrative center." (New York Times, June 6, 2015)

Ten days later, the Taliban were still in control of the Yamgan district; however hundreds of families had left their homes looking for a safer place to stay. Many were left hungry, since the road to the provincial capital Faislabad was blocked and food prices increased up to eight times as much as before. Some people were eating wild weeds for survival, the governor told BBC. (June 15, 2015)

Yamgan is not the only district that the Taliban has seized or attacked in recent months, but its seizure was particularly important because they had never before been able to operate in the province, even when they held nationwide political power in the 1990s. Badakhshan is populated mainly by people of the Tajik ethnicity. It was the stronghold of the main group of jihadi rivals to the Taliban, the Northern Alliance led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Tajik commander assassinated by Al-Qaeda just before September 11, 2001.

Badakhshan is in a mountainous region and from a military point of view has some strategic importance as Afghanistan's gateway to Central Asia (Tajikistan) and China, where the Taliban are eager to expand. Although Yamgan is situated in the southern part of Badakhshan, a long way from its northern reaches, getting this far represents an important step for the Taliban.

Taliban offensive units nowadays are increasingly bigger, consisting of a few hundred men rather than a few dozen. At the same time they have become capable of accessing and attacking different and wider areas, far beyond the Pashtun regions that were their area of maneuver in the initial years of the war. It is reported that the Taliban carried out 6,600 attacks between May and October 2014.

As the war escalates, it takes a greater number of victims. According to figures released by the United Nations on December 20, 2014, ten thousand civilians were killed and wounded in 2014, a 20 per cent increase compared with previous years. More civilian casualties and more Taliban: this is the result of the 14 years of occupation, even after the "surge" of more than 150,000 U.S. and NATO troops in 2011.

The Question of Negotiations

Recently the Taliban leader Mullah Omar reportedly made a rare public statement confirming that his organization has begun negotiations with the U.S.-imposed Afghani government. Pakistani authorities are said to have mediated two meetings, one in Ürümqi in China and the other near Islamabad in Pakistan. Talk about such gatherings has been going on for years. Even if now the two sides are serious, that does not mean that they are close to an agreement. And if they were, that would not necessarily mean the end of the war in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's strategic location at the crossroads of Central Asia, South Asia and the Middle East has led to continuous contention for control of the country. Afghanistan cannot remain unaffected by the continuing rise of Islamic fundamentalism and new Islamist forces like Daesh in the region. The wars now engulfing Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen reflect increased and intensified imperialist intervention in the region, and increased and intensified rivalry between regional powers such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran in the Middle East and Pakistan and India in South Asia. Afghanistan is woven with many strings into the contradictions in the region and consequently the world.

The first step to ending Afghanistan's misery is to put an end to the occupation, which means getting rid of foreign combat forces and the political and military advisers and apparatuses used by the imperialists and reactionary regional powers playing their atrocious games in Afghanistan and the region.

It is hard to imagine that these forces will leave this country of their own will. They need to be kicked out or forced out by a real revolutionary movement of the masses that should be built as quickly as possible. The Taliban, Daesh and other Islamic forces currently in opposition to the government are part of the problem and can never be part of a solution.

 

A World to Win News Service is put out by A World to Win magazine, a political and theoretical review inspired by the formation of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the embryonic center of the world's Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties and organizations.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/susiya-and-the-ongoing-ethnic-cleansing-of-palestine-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

 

Susiya and the ONGOING Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

 

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Where Islamic fundamentalists control places, including in Iran and in regions controlled by ISIS, life is hellish. And some of those crimes are exposed in the U.S. media (when that suits the interests of the U.S. empire). But the crimes of the United States and its partner-in-crime, Israel, dwarf all that.

Whatever real tension exists between the U.S. and Israel these days, one thing is NEVER questioned by the powers-that-be and their media: the myth that Israel is a bastion of enlightenment in an Arab world full of terrorists who are bringing horrors to people. The reality is that Israel is a regional and global hitman for the U.S. empire.

Israel was built on the violent ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. That’s not “ancient history.” TODAY: There are over three million Palestinians— people driven from their homes, along with their descendants— in Jordan alone; over 600,000 in war-torn Syria, hundreds of thousands in Lebanon. And the remaining Palestinians within the borders of Israel and lands it claims outside its recognized borders are subject to constant ethnic cleansing.

Take the case of the town of Susiya. This town is in an area of Palestine that the “international community,” as it is called, considers illegally occupied by Israel. In Susiya, Israeli authorities are moving to demolish at least half of the dwellings and to remove the 340 Palestinian residents.

And this is not the first time. The people of Susiya have been removed from their village three times before. In 1986, the original village of Susiya was forcibly demolished with the justification that it was situated on “an archeological site.” In 1990 and again in 2001, the villagers were forcibly relocated and eventually the people moved to some of their farmlands nearby. During this entire time, vigilante Israeli settlers destroyed their olive trees and subjected them to attacks. The villagers were denied access to two-thirds of their farmland that was declared “too close” to a nearby Israeli settlement. And during all this time, the villagers also tried to pursue legal appeals in the Israeli court system, only to be continually beaten down. This May, an Israeli appeals court again rejected the demands by the people of Susiya to be free of a fourth impending destruction, and Israeli military authorities have announced it will be carried out. The Israeli Supreme Court is due to rule on Susiya’s final appeal sometime in the next week.

You won’t hear this story in the mainstream media. And you won’t hear about the resistance to the ethnic cleansing of Susiya, including the participation of people from around the world.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/inside-ferguson-interview-with-the-artist-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

Interview with the Artist:

“Inside Ferguson”

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

Editors’ note: Bushwick Open Studios is an annual event that draws tens of thousands of people to visit the studios of artists working out of the converted warehouse lofts of the Bushwick district in Brooklyn, New York. An installation that stood out for its message, artistry, and impact was: “Inside Ferguson,” created by photographer Phillip Buehler—an accomplished photographer and writer who, among other projects, is the author of Woody Guthrie’s Wardy Forty: The Interviews. The “Inside Ferguson” installation will be appearing in schools and other venues in the near future. Revolution sat down with Phillip for a conversation about what inspired the project, the experience of going to Ferguson to take the photos for the project, the impact it has had, and his thoughts on the state of the cutting-edge art scene. The following are excerpts from the conversation—the views expressed by Phillip Buehler are, of course, his own.

 

Revolution: You’ve given us permission to use some photos that give some sense of what it is like to experience “Inside Ferguson.” Can you describe that?

Phillip Buehler: The installation’s basically a walk-in photograph in Ferguson. You kind of step into the place, literally. I installed it on a 25-foot-long, eight-foot-tall photograph that’s mounted inside an eight-foot-tall cylindrical frame that wraps around you. It is made from about 40 images. They’re all stitched together.

Revolution: You went to Ferguson and shot those photos. What was that like?

Phillip Buehler: The photos were shot in Ferguson on the street on the location where Michael Brown was killed by a police officer. He fell on the double yellow line in the middle of the street. It’s in a garden apartment community, St. Louis, well-maintained, green lawns. It didn’t seem like a poor neighborhood. It was a lower-income neighborhood, but it was well-maintained. But there on the center line is a stuffed animal memorial, maybe 50 or 60 feet long, stuffed animals, flowers. So I put my camera tripod in the center and photographed that image, 360 degrees, 12 pictures on three different levels.

Revolution: What kind of reaction did you get there as you were doing this?

Phillip Buehler: While I was there. a lot of people came up and asked me what I was doing, African-Americans. A lot of other people were coming and taking pictures of this spot, and pictures of themselves in front of it. You start to realize that it’s like going to the Selma bridge; it’s a landmark in race relations and civil rights in the United States. Everything you saw on television was tear gas and dark and sniper rifles and assault trucks...

Revolution: That really happened!

Phillip Buehler: Yeah, but also, that’s all you saw... It’s almost, I don’t know what. The media is the message, but the media makes the message. You bring the media, and whatever you’re looking for will show up.

Revolution: Are you saying that the humanity of Michael Brown did not come through in the media portrayal?

Phillip Buehler: Not at all. I remember what I was hearing, and it’s through the media filters and your own filters. This guy was shot. “He was coming toward the police.” “He was six-foot-four and weighed 300 pounds.” You get this quite intimidating picture of this guy. “He robbed a store.” And then you realize he’s 19 years old. The cop wasn’t small, the cop was 200 something pounds and six-foot-whatever...

Revolution: And armed with a gun.

Phillip Buehler: Armed with a gun. Then when you get there you see, all you feel, is that this is a kid, and it’s not “Michael Brown,” it’s written in the street, "Mike Brown." It’s Mike. It kind of dehumanizes him by giving his formal name. You realize—maybe he made a mistake, he got so angry. There were people walking in the street when I was there. It’s not an unusual thing in the suburbs to walk in the street. Just to get hassled like that, in that neighborhood, hassling you and giving you a ticket was a way to raise money for the town, for the white powers of the town. You really see: Here’s a poor kid, a kid who’s killed for being Black, essentially, and had a family and people who loved him.

Revolution: Can we talk about what drew you to go to this project?

Phillip Buehler: Ferguson. I didn’t realize when I got there in May that it was one week before the memorial was to be taken down. Actually the impetus to go there was—I did really want to document that, bring it back somehow. I’ve been working on this technique that is immersive in photographs. My work has evolved recently from abandoned places. The book about Woody Guthrie is more about the person than the place. And now I’m... this is a ruin of the person, Michael Brown, kind of about that place, but it’s not the place that’s the ruin, it’s a little bit different evolution of that.

Revolution: Let’s talk a little bit about the installation in Bushwick. This is an area with a massive concentration of alternative artistic activity. You did kind of bring Ferguson into that scene; I’m interested in the reaction.

Phillip Buehler: It’s interesting. This was the industrial part of Bushwick, loft buildings that artists have taken over, kind of gentrification, so we’re kind of surrounded by on one side, projects, on another, industrial wasteland, in another, the Puerto Rican community. It’s all being gentrified eventually, but right now, here, it’s once a year they have Bushwick Open Studios. Six or seven hundred artists open their studios for the weekend; people come and get to see artists in the wild, in their environment, and the work they’re making. From a small scale, it’s becoming really big; tens of thousands of people.

I installed this walking panorama on the street, in front of this studio building—a really interesting thing to do because I’d never installed outdoors. Since it’s an outdoor experience, you actually were getting hit by the sun coming from the top of the panorama and you could feel the wind blowing. It was immersive beyond a gallery. You felt heat if it was a sunny day; you were outdoors.

Revolution: I have to say it’s an intensely visceral experience; you really feel as though you are on the street in Ferguson in a way that no movie or anything else could replicate.

Phillip Buehler: You’re physically there, standing. The artist, making something, it’s like you’re the writer, you can’t read your own book and have the suspense of what happens. I sat on a lawn chair next to it; whoever was interested could come talk to me. Some were real interesting experiences. Some were just enamored with the spectacle of it, the technology, the uniqueness of it, like a walk-in photograph... and technically were interested. It was a fun show event, but that immersed them in it. They would come back out and look at the title, and I would hear people talking, “It’s Ferguson, it’s where they shot that kid!” Then they would go back in and see the stuffed animals, the “Rest in Peace,” and then it became something else. It kind of seduced them into a story they might have walked by. If I knew they were artists and they were above a certain age, it drew them into the politics of it.

In Bushwick now I’d say there’s not much political art; it’s a lot about the Internet and the form and factor, media than it is the message.

Then I installed this around the corner from a shelter for working men.

Revolution: Right. It’s a very large shelter; it serves in part as a halfway house, there’s people released from prison; it’s overwhelmingly Black and Latino guys.

Phillip Buehler: The amazing thing for me is they’d walk by and see “Ferguson” and they’d walk in. These guys released from prison, this was their life too when they were 19 years old. They’d come out and, “I like that!” Not a lot of conversation but an acknowledgment that this was something different. Between the artists who came, the people who were coming to see the art here, and this halfway house; a nice mix, and different reactions. And then some people, you say a visceral reaction—even though it’s a photograph; I didn’t realize it’d be the case, but when you’re in a photograph and it’s four feet away from your eye line, your eyes are trying to focus on that line, but in the image it’s the horizon line. On the one hand your eyes are trying to focus and say that’s four feet away, your brain is going like...

Revolution: It feels like you’re looking down the street in Ferguson.

Phillip Buehler: It’s a little disorienting, especially if you move around off center, because then the lines—in the center of the image they’re all perfect, they all lay out as horizon lines—if you veer off the center it gets a little trippy. I asked people about that; it was unexpected, it changed their experience about Ferguson, now it’s also a disorienting thing. If you had your preconceived notions, now you’re physically disoriented, and open to thinking differently...

Revolution: I will just say as someone who followed Ferguson closely and helped mobilize people to protest, who wrote for Revolution about what an outrage it was, what kind of a system it was part of—even with all that, the installation had a stunning impact on me. People need to be put in the shoes of the Mike Browns of the world, who are marginalized—I’m editorializing here, but oh, well—they’re vilified, they’re pariahs in society. People need to feel what it’s like, to be a large young Black man walking down the street with a target on your back, for whatever reason. I thought what you did was stunningly effective, and I especially appreciated in the context of what you’re saying about Bushwick, where there’s a tremendous amount of innovation, but a lot of it is like what you say, technological or form, without shedding a light on things that need light shed on.

Phillip Buehler: It’s funny... I did want to put a text panel. A lot of art, you talk to the artist and, “...this is the material I use, and it’s my process, and the whole story behind it,” and I just put, “Inside Ferguson.” ...If you didn’t know what Ferguson was, you’re not ready for this.

Revolution: Or you can go find out, now that you’ve been exposed to it.

Phillip Buehler: Or you go in, ...and come out and ask, and that’s what happened. Bring your preconceptions—and then challenge them. You came in and you were like, “Guns and snipers and smoke and guys throwing stuff...” No, that’s not... the humanity is disappeared. I don’t remember any film crews going around the neighborhood asking the local residents what they thought of this thing that was happening.

When I was out there shooting—it’s an interesting tripod rig I have, and I was out there just doing my thing, and a lot of people came. I’ve learned it’s almost like a pilgrimage to go there, it’s like the Selma bridge.

So I was there; people were asking me what I was doing. “You from the news?” I’m like, no, not at all; I’m an artist from Bushwick, Brooklyn, and I wanted to take this back with me. And they were like, “That’s cool!” Because, the news... those people, they’re not showing who we are. There was this anger at being misportrayed.

It’s like the third age of the civil rights movement; the civil war being the first one, the civil rights movement of the ’60s being the second, and this is the third, where it’s like, you know what? It’s not done; we have a Black president, but it’s not done.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/on-one-year-anniversary-of-police-murder-of-eric-garner-artists-audacious-action-es.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

 

On One-Year Anniversary of Police Murder of Eric Garner: Artists' Audacious Action in Times Square

 

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/prlf-call-to-prisoners-to-speak-out-on-importance-of-rise-up-october-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

From the Prisoners Revolutionary Literature Fund:

A Call to Prisoners to Speak Out on the Importance of Which Side Are You On?/Rise Up October

 

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Brothers and sisters inside Amerikkka’s hell holes:

Weigh in/speak out on the importance of the Call for October 24 to Stop Police Terror, and how you see the impact it could have, in the U.S. and worldwide. You need to bring your own experience and thoughts, including insights you have gained reading Revolution, to win many more to be part of this day, especially (but not only) the youth who are potentially the next police murder statistic or prison number. Many people don’t get it—many of you do! You have a unique vantage point and voice, and it needs to be heard in support of this history-making October 24th protest!

Write, and ask other prisoners to write, to:

PRLF
1321 N. Milwaukee Ave., #407
Chicago, IL 60622

or

RCP Publications
Box 3486, Merchandise Mart
Chicago, IL 60654-0486

From the Call from Cornel West and Carl Dix...
#RiseUpOctober to STOP Police Terror
Michael Brown...Freddie Gray... Rekia Boyd... Andy Lopez...Tamir Rice

One after another—and so many others, precious Black and Brown lives—victims of police murder. We think of their faces, and furiously ache for justice. Over 1,000 people a year killed by police—yet since 2005, less than 60 indictments, less than 25 convictions!

Millions languish in prison, generation after generation, Black and Latino brothers and sisters. The spearpoint of a whole matrix of oppression.

People have struggled, resisted, risen up. This must go on and go further—all summer, in many different ways, intensifying.

At the same time, these repeated outrages cry out for a major, national manifestation this fall that states very clearly:

NO! THESE MURDERS BY POLICE MUST STOP—NOW!!

This demonstration will be resistance-based, uncompromising in spirit and, at the same time, pluralistic and diverse, involving hundreds of thousands of people, reaching into every corner of this society and powerfully impacting the whole world.

History has shown that no significant change has been won without mass determined resistance.

We refuse to be derailed by promises of reform that are merely that: promises.

We refuse to be intimidated by government repression or by threats from forces of open and unrepentant racism and fascism. We will respond to the urgency of the political situation by mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets to say these horrors must stop.

We aim to amplify the many forms of resistance against police murder and mass incarceration. More important, we aim to change the whole social landscape, to the point where a growing section of people all over take ever-increasing initiative and make it unmistakably clear that they refuse to live in a society that sanctions this outrage, and where those who do NOT feel this way are put on the defensive.

Join us—on October 24 in the streets of New York City.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/volunteer-be-part-of-creating-a-black-history-timeline-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

 

Volunteer: Be part of creating a Black history timeline at revcom.us

 

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

There is the potential for something of unprecedented beauty to arise out of unspeakable ugliness: Black people playing a crucial role in putting an end, at long last, to this system which has, for so long, not just exploited but dehumanized, terrorized and tormented them in a thousand ways—putting an end to this in the only way it can be done—by fighting to emancipate humanity, to put an end to the long night in which human society has been divided into masters and slaves, and the masses of humanity have been lashed, beaten, raped, slaughtered, shackled and shrouded in ignorance and misery.

Bob Avakian, Chairman, Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

************

Be part of creating a Black history timeline at revcom.us—to tell the true and largely unknown story of the oppression and resistance of Black people in U.S. history.

BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, the handbook for revolution, starts out with this quote:

There would be no United States as we now know it today without slavery. That is a simple and basic truth.

There is a wealth of precious and invaluable material about the oppression of Black people at revcom.us. But the true history of Black people, the history of resistance to that oppression, and what that says about the basis and need for revolution needs to be made accessible to many more people. There is a real need to organize, illustrate, and bring to life a timeline that captures the sweep and development of the history of Black people in the U.S.—with sharp, concise text and quotes along with photographs, videos, illustrations, etc.

Whether you're brand new to revcom.us/Revolution or have been checking out this site and newspaper for a while—if you see the importance of getting out the truth about the oppression of Black people, we invite you to be a part of this timeline project as you learn more about Bob Avakian and the movement for revolution he is leading.

This will be a fun effort, where people bring their creativity, skills, and just plain desire to learn more about history and the world—contribute to a meaningful project that is part of the movement for revolution to radically change the world.

There will never be a revolutionary movement in this country that doesn't fully unleash and give expression to the sometimes openly expressed, sometimes expressed in partial ways, sometimes expressed in wrong ways, but deeply, deeply felt desire to be rid of these long centuries of oppression [of Black people]. There's never gonna be a revolution in this country and there never should be, that doesn't make that one key foundation of what it's all about.

Bob Avakian, BAsics 3:19

To get involved in this project: Write to spreadrevolution@gmail.com

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/letters-from-prisoners-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

 

Letters from Prisoners

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

We greatly appreciate receiving these letters from prisoners and encourage prisoners to keep sending us correspondence. The views expressed by the writers of these letters are, of course, their own; and they are not responsible for the views published elsewhere in our paper.

 

"The New Jim Crow is real... I know because I am a victim of it..."

July 9, 2015

Dear brothers and sisters:

...As the “struggle” on the “outside” intensifies, I know that the “Revolution” is being withheld to prevent organization and participation in the struggle from the “inside.” The call for the unification of all sets and all colors—together—and the request that prisoners sign as groups from prison, this is being “censored” by prison administrators who want to curtail the idea before it is popularized among prisoners and then practiced, thus organizing and gaining momentum. I am unaware of the content of those papers which I have been denied but apparently the message(s) have caused some serious concern here...

I view things as having reached a drastic and serious level, people are learning what this system is all about and they are “moving.” Especially with the recent mass murder here in this state and the redressing of the removal of the flag from the statehouse. The re-emergence of an old ugliness and foolish deep-seated racism and the need to redress and abolish the new form of slavery and historical oppression is very serious.

Concerning the “Confederate” flag, there should be not just a removal of that flag, but also a removal of that system which that flag symbolizes and represents. The “New Jim Crow” is real... I know because I am a victim of it, and until the system is completely dismantled and abolished at its roots, the same acts and arguments will continue and so until then, the removal of that flag is miniscule.

One of the things that continuously centers on my mind is all of the denial and deprivation, the inhumane and animalistic treatment. The cruel/unusual punishment for endless years in solitary or even in general population which is characterized now by (over) crowdedness, (over) populated. The poor food, clothing and shelter... The murder by medical neglect... The imprisonment for years and years for acts that are in themselves trivial or minor. Who are these people that they can do these things to other human beings and not be ashamed? How can leadership/government see their common citizenry, a life brutally taken whether by being beaten or tazed to death or gunned down in a hail of (187) bullets, and not respond with justice?

All of the answers are true... control, profit... the maintenance of the status quo... But it really pushes me to a state of disbelief. I don’t want to believe that a 12-year-old child (Tamir) was shot down by police... that a 7-year-old child (Aiyana) died by gunfire... That “4 little girls” were obliterated by explosives more than 50 years ago... This reality... falls on me like a mountain... Yet I’m alive and I witness everything with my eyes... But I cannot move. I recognize and acknowledge my dramaticism but this is a hard thing... Millions? And millions? Let me move on... But I ask... How can a Woodfox be held in a box for 40 years??

All of the things I have said here are from my mind and heart and though we struggle for revolution and change, let us not forget our compassion and humanity, let us not become heartless and foul and soul-less like those unfeeling monsters who believe they control and rule over “our” society and the (our) earth....

...if there is anything you can do to ensure that the “Revolution” reaches me please do so. I do require it as it has become mandatory reading and study and simply put, I must stay up on the times and be informed. I would also ask for info concerning a grassroots campaign to free all (alleged) drug (crack/cocaine) prisoners.

In closing, I thank you for your time, attention, energy and assistance. Always know that your efforts and support are always appreciated.

 

“Bob Avakian feeds us revolutionary food...”

To the Voice of the Revolution

...I come from a family full of Revolutionary Teaching. My Aunties and Uncle’s were Panthers and majority of them either gang bang or ex. gang member’s plus I used to bang too... Im 33 year’s of age and turning 34 this year in August. Ive over come the ignorance and stupidity of gangbanging in South Central. Ive always been a leader and never would of started banging if I knew that the government was laughing at the slaying of Blacks. I am fully for the Movement and will be committed to represent whats right by any means necessary.

Bob Avakian is a real spiritual and motivating individual. He feeds us reader’s revolutionary food for us to strategize the making for revolution. I am begging and asking to receive every news paper and anything that has to do with a Movement for Change. I am doing a 15 year prison sentence around a lot of Black’s that are still enslaved in the mind has no understanding of the support that we need as Black’s to stand up and stick together as a race. I come as a hungry individual seeking the Knowledge and Understanding tool’s I need to accomplish a [revolutionary] mind state... Hope to hear from you guy’s soon and keep up the work because if we dont stand for nothing we will fall for anything.

 

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/demanding-justice-for-sandra-bland-and-introducing-revolution-nothing-less-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

Demanding Justice for Sandra Bland and Introducing Revolution Nothing Less

July 22, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader in Texas:

Over two days last weekend, revolutionaries went to Waller County to take revolution and Rise Up October into the struggle for Justice for Sandra Bland, who was arrested on a traffic stop and died in police custody.

On Sunday evening, a vigil for Justice for Sandra Bland was held on the campus of Prairie View A&M, an historically Black university. A crew of revolutionaries from Houston, wearing “BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less” t-shirts, and some SMIN members, marched in with the Stolen Lives banner. People had been sitting around, waiting for something to happen, and this bold action immediately changed the atmosphere. Many came up snapping pictures and wanting to know more. The press, too, focused in on the banner, and it became a fixture of the protest. One of the main organizers asked us to stand with it behind the speakers as a backdrop to the rally. Minister Robert Muhammad, the Southwest Regional Minister of the Nation of Islam, pointed to it in his speech. Everyone was intensely interested in the plans for #RiseUpOctober, eagerly taking flyers, and several contact sheets were filled up with names. Several copies of Revolution got out, and one older man who had been met the day before came looking for more copies of the Stolen Lives centerfold.

The tone of the vigil was a mixture of anger and a deep sense of loss. Every speaker expressed a determination that they will not rest until the truth comes out, and that this is a new generation ready to fight against injustice. They spoke to the inspiration they got from Sandra herself, who was an activist in the struggle. The crowd, overwhelmingly Black students, reflected this as well. There were also people from the community, and a group of mostly white people and their pastor from a Unitarian Church.

Sandra Bland was not some unknown young woman who fell victim to police brutality. She had deep ties on this historically Black campus. Several people spoke with bitterness about the fact that Sandra had done everything this system tells you to do, and still could not escape what it means to be Black in this country. Her friends spoke with courage through the tears. One woman spoke to how she has always been a strong young Black woman, how this had made her afraid for the first time, but that as long as she knows she is with others she will not be afraid.

It was brought out that Prairie View A&M is built on the land of the Alta Vista Plantation, where enslaved Africans toiled from “caint see in the morning, til caint see at night” to build up the wealth of this country. The legacy of that is still at work today, and a new generation is taking up the battle and asking questions that demand answers as to why this is going on and what it will take to put a stop to it.

A crew had come up the day before, and ran into mainly older folks who spoke bitterness of lifetimes living with the deep racism in these small Texas towns. Several of them kept in touch with us about plans in the area the next day, and joined the rally. People were eager to talk about the death of Sandra Bland, and to find out about the revolution. Several got copies of Revolution and gave contact information. One Latino brother gave a donation for everyone to get newspapers, but expressed skepticism that the revolutionaries, mostly white, would stick with the people: “What are you going to do when the police drive up? you are going to leave... you need to go to white folks. we already know...” He was also taken aback that we were atheists. At this, we took out the DVD of the Dialogue between Cornel West and Bob Avakian, and showed the clip, “Why are we still fighting for justice in 2015?”. People moved closer to hear, and at the end of the piece the one who posed the question was nodding his head, pointing to BA, and said "I like this guy; I like this guy" . Another person said, ”this is very good, very good... they are killing us! they are killing us! Someone has to do something. I am with this,” and said he wanted to come out and protest.

 

 

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/cleveland-press-conference-puts-spotlight-on-riseupoctober-to-stop-police-terror-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

Cleveland Press Conference Puts Spotlight on
#RiseUpOctober to STOP Police Terror / Which Side Are You On?

July 22, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

July 22: The National Tour #RiseUpOctober to STOP Police Terror / Which Side Are You On? Tour kicked off in Cleveland July 22 with a well-attended press conference that broke into mainstream media. The Press Conference was held at the spot at the Cudell Recreation Center-outdoor shelter where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was murdered by police on November 22, 2014. Watch the entire press conference here.

The press conference attended by Cleveland TV stations: Fox Channel 8; ABC Channel 5; NBC Channel 3; Cleveland.com – website of the Plain Dealer and other outlets; Ideastream.org (the site of the Cleveland NPR station and other media); Revolution newspaper; and blogger Dante Boykin (who posted a video of the entire press conference here) filmed it.

The press conference was MC'd by Turner Fair and speakers included Carl Dix, co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and a representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party; Lavitta Murray, an activist against police brutality; Mertilla Jones (grandmother of Aiyana Stanley-Jones) who appeared with her grandson Carlos Jones; Joshua Lopez (whose uncle, John Collado, was unarmed when he was killed by NYPD in 2012); Brenda Bickerstaff whose brother Craig Lamont Bickerstaff was killed Cleveland police; Al Porter representing Black on Black Crime; and Carol Steiner from Puncture the Silence (affiliated with Stop Mass Incarceration Network).

 

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Permalink: http://revcom.us/a/397/science-and-revolution-book-en.html

Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

Coming soon from Insight Press

Science and Revolution

On the Importance of Science and the Application of Science to Society,
the New Synthesis of Communism and the Leadership of Bob Avakian
An interview with Ardea Skybreak

July 27, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

 

 

 

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Revolution #397 July 27, 2015

From StopPatriarchy.org:

Tune In LIVE: Friday, August 7, 7pm CDT at StopPatriarchy.org
People's Hearing for Abortion on Demand & Without Apology - Live from Mississippi

Updated August 7, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Stop Patriarchy is headed to Jackson, Mississippi July 31 - August 9 to Take Patriarchy By Storm and fight for abortion on demand and without apology. The Deep South is where the battle around abortion rights is most acute, and where lack of access disproportionately affects Black and poverty-stricken women.

Be part of building a movement to change all of this by tuning in on Friday, August 7, at 7pm CDT, for a nationally webcast People's Hearing to shine a light on what is happening in Mississippi and how it is a concentration of a nationwide state of emergency for abortion rights and a whole war on women. The webcast will feature Diane Derzis, the owner of the last clinic in Mississippi (Jackson Women's Health Organization, also known as The Pink House), Sunsara Taylor, writer for Revolution and initiator of Stop Patriarchy, stories from before Roe v Wade when abortion was illegal in the U.S. and thousands of women died each year, and testimony from girls and women in Mississippi and elsewhere who lack access to abortion, are shamed and stigmatized when they do manage to surmount the many hurdles, or are forced into motherhood against their will.

Make plans now to gather friends and family to watch the People's Hearing online. Raise funds to help pay for the livestream service and to support outreach in Mississippi where we'll learn more and collect testimony. Organize a group showing at a church, community center or wherever people congregate. Collect donations at the showings and post them on the spot to the Take Patriarchy By Storm - Mississippi 2015 crowdfunding campaign. Start sharing the date and time on social media and through word of mouth.

Most people in this country want a society in which women decide for themselves when or whether to become parents, yet very few people know how much ground has been lost, how the attacks on abortion are already devastating the lives of women now, and how dangerously close we are to losing this right altogether. This must change! This webcast has the potential to inspire and unleash thousands of people all over the country to act on the understanding that forced motherhood IS female enslavement, and that there is a movement they can join to halt and reverse this trajectory.

Send in the time and place of any public screenings you set to revolution.reports@yahoo.com and StopPatriarchy@gmail.com to be posted.